I used to eat lunch most days at the same grocery store here in San Francisco, and every day I’d screw up paying at the checkout.
The payment terminal had two buttons — pay and cancel — that looked exactly the same. The cancel button was at the top, and easier to hit. And every day, I’d hit cancel.
In design, there’s a principle called the Von Restorff effect (or the isolation effect) that encourages designers to make the most important design element stick out.
When a lot of similar objects are present — such as several onscreen buttons to do different things — the button that’s different from the other is the one that’s most likely to be noticed and remembered. For payment terminals, it should be the “pay” button.
In interface design, an important button to make stand out is “delete.” Delete can sometimes be a catastrophic action, and you want to make sure the user doesn’t hit it by accident.
The Von Restorff effect goes a long way toward explaining why there are several different styles of delete buttons on your iPhone — an inconsistency that’s driving some Apple fans bonkers.
Those familiar with Apple’s famous Human Interface Guidelines, which encourage interface consistency, are especially vexed. But there are good reasons that the state of iPhone delete buttonage is slightly anarchic.
Also in today’s newsletter:
Internally at Apple, Tim Cook’s talking up new AI-driven products. Here’s a short list of the imminent ones.
I dunno if anyone but me is excited about the iPhone 17e, but Apple seems poised to fix the biggest problem with its budget handset.
I was surprised by the scope and ambition of Apple’s AI-driven health coach, which, unfortunately, is being scaled back under recent leadership changes.
🔥 DEAL OF THE DAY: Never lose your specs again, thanks to a handy glasses case with a built-in Find My tracker. Coupon slashes 28% off the list price.
A relative of mine used to work in not one but two cybersecurity jobs for big bucks, and he got started by studying CompTIA.
We received some insightful comments on yesterday’s poll about the best smart home platform. See below.
— Leander Kahney, EIC.
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One more thing ...
There needs to be someone who is the keeper and reiterator of the vision. Because there's a ton of work to do. When you have to walk a thousand miles and you take the first step, it looks like a long way. It really helps if there's someone there saying, “We're one step closer. The goal definitely exists, it's not just a mirage.”
Today’s poll
In UI design, what's most important?
Results from yesterday’s poll: What platform do you use for your smart home?
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