This piece was sparked by a chat with my friend, Genie. Through voice notes and calls, we some times get into existential discussions, like “But really, what actually is money?” This concept of Personal Interfaces emerged from venting about a terrible app experience, but in truth, it is nothing new. In research, experimentation and even fiction, we've been grappling with building technology that conforms to the uniqueness of individuals, instead of individuals adapting to a predefined system.
Personal Interfaces
Imagine a future where technology is truly personalised. Our personal devices can take any shape and size. The interface on that device is tailored to our preferences. We may access the same internet, but no one would experience it the same way. Individuals wield maximum control over the technology they interact and use every day.
Here is an example in this future:
Created with Midjourney using Niji version 5
Lin’s personal device is a compact that she can easily fit into her pocket. Most of her interactions are done through chatting with her avatar, like booking a car or ordering a new book. However, she’s customised chats with her friends to look like stars shooting across the sky. She prefers to continuous scroll through information she’s reading. Aside from scrolling for reading, all her interactions are done through voice.
In this future, everyone has the potential to design their software and services. Defaults could be pre-loaded and services could be hired–nothing new from today. But what sets this future apart is the absence of set patterns, of the status quo. Instead, everything is individually tuned to each person. We are not bound by how a company designs or builds its services. There are no negative patterns to navigate or annoying ads to disrupt the flow. The emphasis is on empowering users to shape their digital experiences precisely as they desire. Is this a fantastical future? Yes. Can it be done? Absolutely.
Despite our advances in generative AI, our technology is rather boring. We interact with rectangles on the screens of our rectangular devices. We go through the same digital experiences so many times, we can’t tell them apart. How sad is it that the top 960,000 web pages are not accessible in 2023.
But 2024 is where we start, where we push ourselves in how we think and build technology into this bright future. The foundation is already being laid from SUPPLE automatically generating interfaces based on a person’s ability to the Large Action Model in rabbit OS.
You may be reading this and wondering how the hell do we get there. You are thinking of your roadmap and what must be done. Perhaps you know too much, you know how shaky your code base is. Hell, your design system is barely up to date with your Figma systems.We can’t solve the bureaucracy of now. To shift something with years, decades even, of baggage is almost insurmountable.
This is a call for the next idea, the next passion, the spark. As you think of building the next generation, challenge yourself beyond the status quo. How would you design a system that's entirely customisable? How can you empower users not just to tolerate a service but genuinely enjoy using it?