Best Practices
Manual Speed Bumps
Use confirmation dialogs to help prevent error, avoid unintentional actions, and promote critical thought.
Algorithmic Speed Bumps
Algorithmic speed bumps help to slow down unintentional consequences and deter bad actors.
Embrace Positive Friction
Positive friction results in more intentional choices.
Encourage Moderation
By encouraging moderation, we give people tools they can use to keep their viewing habits in check.
Of all the buzzwords in tech, perhaps none has been deployed with as much philosophical conviction as “frictionless.” Over the past decade or so, eliminating “friction” — the name given to any quality that makes a product more difficult or time-consuming to use — has become an obsession of the tech industry, accepted as gospel by many of the world’s largest companies.
Further Reading
The Tyranny of Convenience
Tim Wu
The Value of Inconvenient Design
Jesse Weaver
Designing Friction For A Better User Experience
Zoltan Kollin
Is Tech Too Easy to Use?
Kevin Roose
The Fallacy of Easy
Jason Yuan
Creating Users, Not Addicts
Jeremy Cherry
Make Me Think: Friction as a Function in User Experience
Marvily Meirav Har-Paz
Design by Default: The Impact of Using Default Options in User-Centered Design
Steven Harries
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Design with Intentionality
It’s time we expand what it means to create more meaningful relationships between people and technology by considering the intentionality of the products we build.