Calm Technology
Design Futures/Fiction
Technology that informs without demanding attention.
In practice
Calm technology, from Weiser and Brown and later Amber Case, holds that good technology should live in the periphery — a glance, a glow, a texture — and step into the centre of attention only when needed, then recede. It is a direct critique of notification-driven design and the founding principle behind ambient computing done well.
Questions
What is Calm Technology?
Calm technology is a set of design principles for technology that communicates through the periphery of attention, requiring the minimum of focus and returning it quickly.
Why do you use Calm Technology?
Attention is the scarcest resource people have. Technology that hoards it makes life worse regardless of what it does.
How do you use/apply Calm Technology?
Use the smallest signal that conveys the information — light, sound, position — make it glanceable, never interrupt without cause, and let the person stay in their own task.
When do you use Calm Technology?
For ambient devices, notifications, wearables and any product that lives alongside life rather than in front of it.
Who uses Calm Technology?
Interaction and industrial designers working on connected products and environments.
