Where did it come from? My non-computer Daily UI. Part 4 (61–80).
That’s the 4th part of my analogue Daily UI. If you want to see the rest, please take a look at my other articles:
I like to think about design as something that has a long history, which dates back to the time when people didn’t focus on the concept of “design” and most of the forms came from functions needed.
Let’s think about something that most of us use every day — the keyboard and its QWERTY layout. This layout appeared already with the first typewriters. At the beginning, characters were arranged alphabetically. However, they were mounted on metal arms or type bars that would collide and jam if neighbouring arms were pressed at the same time or in rapid succession. To avoid the jamming, the keys and the typebars have been arranged so that letters that were frequently used in sequence didn’t come from adjacent typebars. This is how the standard that appears today on keyboards around the world was created. Even though jamming is not a problem with electronic keyboard and the style of typing has changed, we are still committed to this layout.
There are many more such examples, and with computers and digital world their evolution has become even more interesting.
My analogue Daily UI.
Daily UI was created with the user interface of software or computerized devices in mind. In my challenge, I wanted to analyze and reflect on the roots of these elements.
Some elements were (or seemed) obvious, with some I was puzzled. In the world of computers, interaction technology has changed, and there are more possibilities and functions. I think even more will appear in the future, in different dimensions and forms. Our habits and culture changes much slower than technology. This means that although technical progress is constantly introducing new ways of interacting with objects and products, people are unwilling to change their habits. Many of elements of this challenge are based not only on the appearance of objects of the past, but largely on human behavior, possibilities, expectations, habits and mental models.
PART 4— Daily UI 61–80
061. Redeem Coupon
First coupon ever was distributed in 1888 and it was a ticket for a free glass of Coca-Cola. Since then, they have become increasingly popular in marketing strategies. There are different types of coupons such as discounts, free shipping, buy-one get-one, trade-in for redemption, first-time customer coupons, free trial offer, launch offers, festival offers, and free giveaways. All of them appear also in the digital world and because paper coupons would be difficult to distribute and redeem, typically secret words or codes are distributed to consumers to type in at checkout.
062. Workout of the Day
A set of exercises that we get in the application can be seen as an equivalent of a personal trainer. Training applications can sometimes replace them, but I’m not sure if they can be as motivating as a real coach.
063. Best of 2015
Just like in the nondigital world, “Best of…”also exists in the digital world. Probably there are many more rankings than before.
064. Select User Type
Choosing a user type can be compared to assigning a role. Every day we can be e.g. a different type of client, a team member at work or a player in the game with friends. Already at school, we can be the captain of the team that chooses the team members (who also have different roles). At work it’s a daily matter — depending on the position, we may or may not make certain decisions. Depending on our role, we have different rights. These types, more or less official, short or long-lasting, appear in our lives quite often.
065. Notes Widget
In this case, computers are very helpful. Taking notes was partially taken over by digital tools, where it’s easier to sort and find them. In the analog version of the notebook, we had to create such widgets ourselves to quickly find the right notes.
066. Statistics
The origins of statistics come from the tradition of censuses, i.e. collecting information about the population. Today, the use of modern computers has expedited large-scale statistical computations and has also brought new methods that are infeasible to tackle manually.
067. Hotel Booking
Hundred years ago hotels were considered to be “manual” — most functions were carried out by people. Besides billing and accounting, the hotel staff were responsible for duties like room status checks and guest registration. As advancing technology began to address some of these functions, hotels gradually transitioned to the use of electromechanical systems which were semi- automated, before moving to wholly computerized systems.
068. Flight Search
Over the recent years the number of flights has increased many time compared to previous decades. Searching the right connection takes place online, where the entire flight database is is available and it has never been so convenient. In few seconds we can compare prices, choose a departure time, airlines or airports.
069. Trending
This has been around for a long time and usually for rather longer time perspective. Trends have been presented in magazines, shows or fairs. Because of the internet (of course) the frequency of such trend redefinition has increased. We see a new trend every day, and it often changes on a regular basis.
070. Event Listing
Before computerization, we saw this information mainly on printed materials — posters, booklets, or advertising materials. Today we can find all lists of events online.
071. Schedule
People have used schedules since the early times since they are needed to plan work or some activities.With computers and internet it has become more convenient, easier to make changes and share this information with others.
072. Image Slider
We’ve already enjoyed viewing photos a long time ago. To make it easier, Kodak began making slide projectors in 1937 and carousel projectors in 1961. With the further development of technology, they have been replaced by digital cameras and image sliders appeared as the basic user interface feature feature.
073. Virtual Reality
Well, we have always lived in reality. With the recent technology advancements, we gained a new kind — the virtual one.
074. Download App
Mobile applications can be compared to a wide range of products and services, and installing applications to their purchase. In a non-computer world it requires a significant time to reach such products, online it takes a single click. App stores mean an endless possibilities of services, shopping, entertainment — we can make payments in the bank, play the game, call friends, write notes, edit photos, watch movies, read books and much more.
075. Pre-Order
The idea for pre-orders came when people found it hard to get popular items in stores because of their popularity, particularly just after the market launch date. For some products orders were placed when they have not yet been released not yet been released. It was possible earlier, e.g. in the case of computer games, cars, books, or CDs. The internet has made this much easier and accessible for more people.
076. Loading…
We can compare it to a short (hopefully), often routine moment that allows us to achieve the intended result. it’s something we’ve caused, but we don’t need to think about it much. We are just waiting and want it to last as short as possible.
077. Thank You
One of the things that is worth saying, also in the digital world.
078. Pending Invitation
In digital world, this is called an invitation, because the form is similar. The invitation we know from the non-computer world is a sign the someone is willing to host us at some event and often expects a response, which is why its form was also used on the Internet — both sides must agree. Digital invitations often have a slightly different character. It’s often not only about events, but for example we invite people to the group of our friends or a group with a specific topic in mind.
079. Itinerary
It’s common that travelers prepare a travel plan. It used to be marked on the maps and stages and some more details were just written down. Now, everything that is normally prepared by a travel agent or by us (more do-it-yourself travel planning) is organized in a similar way but is usually done electronically. Of course, this gives us more options — accurately showing locations and routes, all changes are immediately taken into account, sharing option etc.
080. Date Picker
Well, choosing dates happens quite often to us. When entering the date manually, we have to look at the calendar, which is not attached (of course) to the form or document. On the computer it has been made easy — the calendar is shown automatically.
It was fun 🤓
It was quite a long journey, but interesting and motivating me to reflect over so many UI elements, both traditional and digital. There are a few things that caught my attention:
🔴 I was aware of that, but now I understand even better why we say the DIGITAL WORLD. A very large part of the real world appears in the internet or in digital version. We can learn, talk, send, receive, buy, sell, read, write, work, find a job, find love, check maps, see almost every place in the world… and more. I tried to avoid saying “the real world”, rather talk about it as a non-computer world, because the internet and digital products are also parts of the real world.
🔴 It’s clear that almost everything that I analyzed became faster, easier to access and generally enables many more possibilities (I don’t say that it is easier to use, because it depends on the level of tech-knowledge).
🔴 With the development of technology, we can do more and more things ourselves. Many activities once required the involvement of a group of people, today they are increasingly replaced by technological solutions.
🔴 I think that the speed of technology development also has a significant impact on generational differences, which will be even bigger than before. At this point, even a few years of difference can affect our way of life, habits, and interactions with other people. Maybe after some time it will be completely normal that people see each other mainly with the help of artificial intelligence and we won’t know the world that relies on a complex system of face-to-face meetings in real-life. I am very curious which products and concepts that we use on a daily basis now will disappear, what will change and how it will change.
🔴 I was a bit disappointed with the tasks of the Daily UI. They often seem underspecified and too general. I’m not sure if drawing screens taken completely out of context is such a valuable exercise. Working on this series of posts, sometimes I felt like skipping something that seemed too general to me, but I just don’t like leaving unfinished things. And without all 100 it would be an unfinished challenge. I think the list could be updated and refined, but it’s great that such things exist!
Thanks!
If you want to see the rest of my analogue Daily UI, you’ll find them in the other articles:
🔴 If you have any comments, suggestions, ideas or just want to say hi, I will be very happy to hear from you — ✉️ julia.a.kuczynska@gmail.com
Pictures were taken by me, unless stated otherwise.
