The Interface Is Always There
There’s no such thing as UI-less anything.
If it’s not one of your five senses, it’s an interface.
This might seem like a bold claim in an era obsessed with “invisible” and “UI-less” design, but consider what an interface actually is: any mediating layer between you and information.
When you use a voice assistant, you’re not experiencing a UI-less interaction — you’re using an audio interface. When you use gesture controls, you’re not bypassing an interface — you’re using a kinetic one. Even when you’re using a “seamless” AR experience, you’re still interfacing through visual overlays and spatial tracking.
The dream of UI-less design is sold as a magically unmediated experience, but in reality it’s just something other than a couple of boxes with a screen. Don’t get me wrong; I have no problem with unboxing the computer. Let’s just not play marketing games with what that is. Call it distributed computing. Call it what it is.
An unmediated digital experience is an oxymoron. Digital information must be translated into human-perceivable form through some kind of interface, whether that’s visual, auditory, tactile, or some combination thereof.
This isn’t a limitation — it’s a fundamental aspect of how we process information. Our brains are wired to understand the world through sensory interfaces. We can’t directly perceive radio waves, but we can interface with them through devices that translate them into something our senses can process.
Perhaps instead of chasing the impossible dream of invisible interfaces, we should focus on designing interfaces that work with our natural ways of processing information. After all, the best interfaces aren’t invisible — they’re intuitive. They don’t disappear; they become extensions of our sensory experience.
The next time someone talks about creating a UI-less experience, ask them: Through which of the five senses do they expect users to perceive their product? Whatever the answer, that’s their interface.
P.S. You might think that a direct brain-computer interface will checkmate every point I’ve made here and then some. Perhaps. But I sincerely doubt that. A direct interface like that will open us up to receiving input at a volume and diversity and simultaneity that we’ve never experienced before. As plastic as the brain can be, I think such a thing will take time — perhaps on a generational scale of adaptation — to take route in human society.
Written by Christopher Butler on
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