This talk for the AIGA audience covers the full framework of calm technology — what it is, where it came from, and how designers can apply it to the products and environments they create.
The eight principles of calm technology describe a design philosophy derived from Mark Weiser and John Seely Brown’s research at Xerox PARC in 1995. At their core is a single insight: that the most successful technology fits into the human environment rather than demanding that the environment fit around it. A well-designed smoke detector, a kitchen timer, a turn signal — these are technologies that communicate when they need to and fall silent when they don’t.
The challenge for contemporary product designers is that the economic incentives push in exactly the opposite direction. Engagement metrics, notification rates, and active session time are all measures of how much attention a product has captured. Calm technology argues that we need different metrics — ones that measure not how much attention a product has taken, but how well it has served the person using it.