Reduce friction, Increase use
Design reduces friction, making products or services easier to use. Remove barriers, smooth interactions, automate where possible. Design teams rarely stop to consider the potential adverse outcomes of removing friction: when we reduce friction, use increases.
On the surface, the relationship between friction and use may seem obvious. But this relationship can drive profoundly negative consequences that need to be carefully and deliberately identified and addressed.
Consider plastics recycling services. Getting plastic out of landfills is a positive goal. To increase plastics recycling, we look for ways to remove friction from the system. However, by making recycling plastic easier, consumers may increase their use of plastics. Consumers may stop looking for alternatives to plastic, believing they no longer have to choose between the convenience of plastics and protecting the environment. The unintended consequence of reducing friction for plastics recycling could be increased ecological damage as people use more plastics.
We may find a similar situation when considering autonomous vehicles. Autonomously driven cars will be safer, more efficient, and more convenient. But autonomy may also increase the total miles driven per vehicle, with potential negative impact. Self-driving is full of friction. Wasting hours in traffic jams, fighting for parking spaces, avoiding aggressive drivers. this friction naturally limits the number of miles people drive. People may choose alternatives to driving their cars, like using public transportation, or they may choose not to take a trip at all. Autonomous vehicles could remove these frictions. Owners of autonomous cars may "drive" MORE miles as they no longer need to deal with the frictions of driving.. Mustapha Harb, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California Berkeley’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and reported in Jalopnik.com found exactly that: Reducing friction results in more miles driven.
How do we design for situations when we need to make an activity convenient yet reduce the occurrence of the activity?
Designers must consider the long-term goals of the product or service. If by reducing friction designers increase negative outcomes, they must account for this by introducing friction back into the system. Friction can take the form of nudges, warnings, education, deliberately introduced delays or barriers, or visualizing usage metrics to drive awareness. It is also critical to establish metrics for success. There must be a way to measure all outcomes, not just the ease of use. Introducing the right friction and tracking the right metrics requires designers to work closely with the people who use the system. Insights surfaced via user research can inform solutions that will support the desired behaviors and outcomes.
Addressing ease of use and the resulting increase in behavior is not easy. We must have a system-wide understanding of the unintended consequences when we remove friction from an activity.
Picture courtesy of Chi Hou Ong