With the rapid advancement of technology, we are often attracted by the glamor of new technologies and believe that they should replace traditional technologies or old devices as soon as possible to fulfill what we imagine a futuristic life full of tech innovation would be. However, technology should be based on human needs, regardless of whether the people it serves are familiar with the latest technology or not.
Human-centered design is well illustrated in Softbank Corp’s promotional video “Analog Innovation.” Released in 2016, the video depicts how the company uses modern technology and human-centered design to solve the problems of generational differences and geographic distance.
The video portrays an old couple living on a remote island in Japan, far away from their children and grandchildren, who live in the big city, and can only come to the island once a year to visit them. Grandpa and grandma do not know how to use smartphones, so they cannot open the photos and videos they receive from their children and grandchildren.
Softbank’s solution for this family blends modern technology with traditional interfaces to cleverly “upgrade” the old couple’s home devices. For example, the “Cloud VHS” system: When grandma and grandpa put a video tape into the player, the machine reads the QR code on the tape and connects it to the videos shared by the grandchildren on the cloud, then plays them on the TV. Grandma and grandpa can even use a remote control to play, pause and fast-forward the video. The system allows the old couple to watch their children and grandchildren’s lives in the big city with a familiar interface.
In addition to Cloud VHS, Softbank also created a number of similar designs that combine modern technology with traditional interactive interfaces.
We tend to view new and old technologies as polar opposites, believing that old devices should be discarded, ignoring that many in our society are unable to learn new technologies quickly.
Many people think that there is no need to spend effort on those who are unable to adapt to technological innovations. However, they ignore that aging is an inevitable development for all of us — most of us would face the day when we can no longer learn new things. The way of operating and interacting with machines that young and middle-aged people are accustomed to today is likely to be seen as old-fashioned and outdated by people 20 years younger, just as how we see videotapes now.
Technology should be based on human needs. Whether it is the physical devices we use every day, such as computers and mobile phones, or software, such as Web sites and apps, or the trendy artificial intelligence and its derivatives, the design of applications should take into account the backgrounds and needs of various users.
Through the concept of human-centered design, we can create more inclusive and universal technology products, so that everyone can benefit from them.
Ho Hui-yu is a user experience designer.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
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