To illustrate this approach, I often refer to my own unique experiences using technology. You have to go far beyond the relatively simple bar of functionality to the much more complex bar of invisibility. In other words, technology should never be about technology it should be about what it enables us to do. It also requires a fundamental reorientation of perspective on technology. This is a difficult message to convey to both technology professionals and the average user because it requires an understanding of the importance of design in technology utilization. Unless you are a technician or technologist, the central function of technology should be as an invisible augmentation of the hard tasks we face every day. (This reference is from a great podcast “99% Invisible,” which I highly recommend to anyone interested in the topic of design in all of its applications.) Architects and designers have an expression for this: “Design should be 99% invisible.” This applies as much to technology as any building, artwork, or piece of furniture.

Like a well-composed photograph, a well-thought-out design creates a pleasing and rewarding effect, but often the viewer can’t explain why. When designing a learning environment that involves technology, there are a couple of guiding truths that are too often overlooked - first, the central element of effective technology is design and second, the design employed is an implicit form of communication.

In this three-part series, I want to spend some time looking at how design telegraphs intention to users, how we can design technology environments (both hardware and software) to telegraph augmentation instead of fear and frustration, and how we can explicitly use more overt communications strategies to augment users’ ability to leverage technology for teaching, learning, and productivity. Users are either fascinated or fearful of new technologies, and these gut reactions make them blind to the ‘”why” of it. It’s time to stop thinking about technology as technology, but it’s hard to get people to do that.

99 percent invisible