Calm Technology is a process for designing technology that works with human attention, instead of against it.
Principles of Calm Technology™
I. Technology should require the smallest possible amount of attention
II. Technology should inform and create calm
III. Technology should make use of the periphery
IV. Technology should amplify the best of technology and the best of humanity
V. Technology can communicate, but doesn’t need to speak
VI. Technology should work even when it fails
VII. The right amount of technology is the minimum needed to solve the problem
VIII. Leverage familiar behaviors to introduce new ones
History
While writing her thesis on smartphones in 2007, designer and researcher Amber Case first encountered a small set of Xerox PARC papers from the 1990s describing Calm Tech. Starting in 2010, she expanded on these essays by creating Principles of Calm Technology, further extending them with her influential 2015 book Calm Technology: Principles and Patterns for Non-Intrusive Design.
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The concept of Calm Technology and Case's principles for Calm Product Design have since been adopted by companies all over the world, including Microsoft, Samsung, Google, Virgin Global and AirBNB. Calm Technology also inspired award-winning product designs by Kyoto-based startup mui Lab.
Calm Technology: Principles and Patterns for Non-Intrusive Design
2015, O'Reilly Books
Author Amber Case expands on ideas first introduced by researchers at Xerox PARC in 1995 with a series of principles, patterns and examples of how they apply to our current technology landscape, especially the Internet of Things.
This book is ideal for UX and product designers, managers, creative directors, developers, and anyone that cares about making products that exist alongside humans in a state of harmony.
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