KK Barrett on Her
“We did something more akin to framing a piece of artwork than the window to your entertainment,” KK Barrett
Her, he realized, isn’t a movie about technology. It’s a movie about people.
Technology hasn’t disappeared, in other words. It’s dissolved into everyday life.
It’s not just that Her, the movie, is focused on people. It also shows us a future where technology is more people-centric.
The future is much simpler than you think. Spike Jonze
Theo’s home gives us one concise example. You could call it a “smart house,” but there’s little outward evidence of it. What makes it intelligent isn’t the whizbang technology but rather simple, understated utility. Lights, for example, turn off and on as Theo moves from room to room. There’s no app for controlling them from the couch; no control panel on the wall. It’s all automatic. Why? “It’s just a smart and efficient way to live in a house,” says Barrett.
He uses (his phone) far less frequently than we use our smartphones today; it’s functional, but it’s not ubiquitous. As an object, it’s more like a nice wallet or watch. In terms of industrial design, it’s an artifact from a future where gadgets don’t need to scream their sophistication–a future where technology has progressed to the point that it doesn’t need to look like technology.
Looking at it that way, you can see the audio-based interface in Her as a novel form of augmented reality computing. Instead of overlaying our vision with a feed, as we’ve typically seen it, Theo gets a one piped into his ear. At the same time, the other ear is left free to take in the world around him.
Consider how today’s mobile operating systems, like iOS and ChromeOS, hide the messy business of file systems out of sight. Theo, with his voice-based valet as intermediary, is burdened with even less under-the-hood stuff than we are today. As Barrett puts it: “We didn’t want him fiddling with things and fussing with things.” In other words, Theo lives in a future where everything, not just his iPad, “just works.”
In essence, it means that AI has to be programmed to dumb itself down. “I think it’s very important for OSes in the future to have a good bedside manner.” Barrett says. “As politicians have learned, you can’t talk at someone all the time. You have to act like you’re listening.”
In something as simple as a responsive web layout or iOS 7’s “Do Not Disturb” feature, we’re starting to see designs that are more perceptive about the real world context surrounding them–where or how or when they’re being used. Google Now and other types of predictive software are ushering in a new era of more personalized, more intelligent apps.
'Red, of course is the colour of the inside of our bodies. In a way it's inside out, red.' Anish Kapoor . Designer / Sculptor
'Red, of course is the colour of the inside of our bodies. In a way it's inside out, red.' Anish Kapoor . Designer / Sculptor
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