Manifesto for the Experience of Things
The Internet of Things is the convergence of many technologies. Technologies change our lives when the experience of them fits.
This Manifesto learns from the best physical and digital product design to inform good design in the coming generation of connected products.
While this is informed by the many IoT standards and platforms, this is not a technical document. It is a description of the experience - how the technology will fit into our lives. This is, we believe, how the IoT ecosystem of technologies should be experienced.
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My. Your. Our. The.
We are now beyond the user. Everything fits into multiple lives. The experience of a one-person or shared device differs from those designed for public or community consumption. Don’t unnecessarily carry over the experience decisions from single-user world.
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Design for scale
Scale for users and things. Design for the scale of users, their data and their devices. Each element introduces network effects which put pressure on the others. Do not let the users pick up the slack for your lack of thinking at scale.
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Be Obvious
The experience should appear to be obvious and inevitable. Go beyond conventions of the underlying technology to make the experience feel like the only way it could have been.
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Imbue ownership
The feeling of ownership brings trust and the thing becomes part of life. Give reason for this with reliability, clear privacy and control.
Long term ownership of a product differs from transient ownership. Design experience for the right type of ownership. -
Build it to last
Renewal rates differ. Some things will be experienced many years after the protocol or platform has expired. Battery life sees devices continue running for years. Good experience looks beyond today’s platforms. How will it adapt to new protocols and platforms?