Are the past 35 years just a big side quest?
Gen AI brings us back to human-computer interaction in a way I have not seen in a long time — what does that mean for UX?*
I already talked about how reformatting my resume for ATS felt like a return to the days of writing basic code to read my email. Now I am turning the same eyes to my website, adding content in a specific and organized manner so I can show up in AI summaries and searches. I’m adding FAQ, glossaries, and cross-cutting terms and phrases that feel like SEO, but are subtly different.
Why? Because yet again, I am talking directly to the computer.
LLM interfaces are about as basic as you can get. As I write I can see my ChatGPT open on a side screen. It’s simple, constrained, and easy to interpret. It’s high contrast and devoid of anything that might draw my eyes from its purpose. I can prompt it as vaguely or specifically as I like — there is no wrong way to use it really.
I find it kind of soothing to be honest, but it’s not the stripped down design that does it for me. It’s how perfectly it fits into the most fundamental rules of UX design… of human-computer interaction.
Simplicity: there’s nothing there you don’t need
Consistency: it’s the same no matter what you are doing
User freedom: you can do things, undo things, and use the tool flexibly (the addition of the stop icon to the chat function helped this immensely)
Reducing cognitive load: it’s all there for you to look at and review, and now it “remembers” your conversations (ie. pulls from them as part of the response)
Accessibility: high-contrast, voice speech enabled, easy to read, reading level is flexible, zoom enabled, screen reader compatible
Minimalist and aesthetic: well, depending on what you consider aesthetic…
Error prevention: you may get information you don’t want, but it’s easy to reprompt and correct
Flexible and efficient: answers are fast, and you can use it for so many things
It almost feels like what a computer would think about and design if it were asked to create this kind of platform. BUT, let’s remember, that people created it. They created it on the principle of talking directly to the computer.
So what does this mean for UX? It makes me wonder if we have been on a 35 year journey of trying to mash up “design” and “design.” What I mean by that is, has the pursuit of things that are branded, visual, and unique gotten in the way of the user experience? I would argue yes. We have these principles for a reason, and when they are followed closely we create better products.
Does talking more directly to the computer help us talk more directly to ourselves? I think so. UX can take cues from this, and add more of the human-computer aspect back into the equation.
I will say that one thing that is missing is… delight. But that’s another post entirely.
*You can pry the em dash out of my cold, dead hands.
