Passive design needs active users

A passive house heats and cools itself through orientation, shade, and thick walls. It still needs someone who knows when to open the windows. The design does most of the work, but the person completes it.

Digital interfaces often go the other way. They hide the workings so you never have to understand them. First use gets easy while failure gets opaque. When a system breaks, finding out why takes work.

Two ways to design a tool:

• Grow the tool. It does more so you do less. You become dependent.
• Grow the person. You do more over time. You become capable.

Good tools do some of both. They are easy to start and legible underneath. A piano is like this. The first note is easy, and there is always more.

Tools that grow the person:

• Show what they are doing.
• Explain why.
• Let you take over.

Ask of any tool you use daily: has it made me better at something, or has it only made me need it?