Zero UI

A huge amount of production work these days is visual, for better or worse. That makes sense, because there are screens for the most important items that we communicate with. But because we are surrounded by the internet of things with devices that can hear our voices, anticipate our needs, and sense our movements, what does that mean for the design future , particularly when those screens go away?

Zero UI is all about getting away from the touchscreen, and communicating in more natural ways with the devices around us: haptics, computer vision, voice control, and artificial intelligence. The architecture aspect of all these innovations is Zero UI, as it relates to what we call the Internet of Things. The change from the Graphical User Interfaces we are used to and the way we connect and function with our technology is evolving with Zero UI. The idea of eliminating the barrier between user and computer, and making a more seamless technology interaction, is Zero UI.

As a user, Zero UI is all about how we communicate with our content. Usually, we have a computer that is directly connected to a remote control through a touchscreen or indirectly. Zero UI is the impetus for our technology to become much more integrated. Zero UI or Touchless Technology.

Zero UI is focused, first and foremost, on contactless management and predictiveness. Its purpose is to predict or guess what the user is going to do now and move him / her directly to the user scenario core. So, what’s the distinction between the design of the site UI and the design of Zero UI? In the first example, a GPS navigator allows the user first to select the appropriate address and then create and view the itinerary for them. In the above scenario, i.e., A navigator decides where the driver is going on his own (e.g. from work to home), then gets directions and measures the travel time, traffic jams, etc. Or if TechCrunch sends you push notifications right to your browser with the latest tech news previews-this is Zero UI, too! And when all the songs you’ve heard before are analyzed by your Apple Music, it searches playlists of individuals with similar music tastes and shows you recommended artists and songs-this is certainly Zero UI! All web services based on Zero UI automatically satisfy user cases so that the user is not even aware of them, which makes the interaction process simple and easy and can greatly increase user satisfaction, as no one after Zero UI would want to return to manual interface management.

Whereas interface designers currently work in applications such as InDesign and Adobe Illustrator, zero UI’s non-linear design issues would require radically different resources and skill sets. “In databases, or search tables, or spreadsheets, we would have to design,” Goodman says, explaining that data would become the most important commodity of a designer, not intuition. “In order to build these products, designers would have to become specialists in science , biology, and psychology … things we don’t have to worry about when our projects are limited by screens.” “A lot of our interfaces will have to become more automated, anticipatory, and predictive as we step away from screens,” Goodman says. Goodman says the Nest is a good example of this kind of device: you set the thermostat once, and then it learns to predict what you want based on how you communicate with it from there.

To understand the need for this change, let’s take a look at how we engage with technology at present. By means of a Graphical User Interface ( GUI), most of us communicate with our computers on a regular basis. This is what we see when we perform some activity using our mobile devices and computers. GUIs live on displays, requiring user input to relay information by the use of a combination of mouse / keyboard or tapping and swiping. To be honest, interfaces have come a long way from their modest beginnings, but for those who use them, they still have to offer the best experiences. In an effort to perform everyday activities, we download an infinite number of applications and press on so many screens. Fortunately, designers and developers are addressing the problem in order to bring about some interesting improvements to help with this issue. This is the principle of Zero UI, the next step in human-computer interaction evolution.

1. Eliminating as much of the user’s perception as possible so that they can get on with their lives.
2. Reducing time spent on equipment, yet still producing the same results.
3. Have machines understand consumers, actions, and movements in their own natural words.

Future user interfaces can be compatible with the real environment. Design provides consumers with a more normal and human way of interacting with devices by drawing the interface away from displays. Soon, as if they were our own personal assistants, we’ll all find it normal to communicate to our smartphones.

Originally published at https://medium.com on September 28, 2020.