No to No UI • Timo Arnall • 2013
On Culture Through Interfaces
In Short
The things we make affect the world not just by what they do, but also by what they are. Design shapes culture and to imagine it as invisible is to promote an inert culture.
In Depth
Interfaces are the dominant cultural form of our time. So much of contemporary culture takes place through interfaces and inside UI. Interfaces are part of cultural expression and participation, skeuomorphism is evidence that interfaces are more than chrome around content, and more than tools to solve problems. To declare interfaces ‘invisible’ is to deny them a cultural form or medium. Could we say ‘the best TV is no TV’, the ‘best typography is no typography’ or ‘the best buildings are no architecture’?
This passage is a good reminder that no matter what you are designing, the purpose and impact of the act is almost always more than a particular transaction of information or energy. The most affecting design products are manifestations of a cultural belief about what we think the world should be like, things that shape and stir conversation about how we live through interaction with it.