User-Centered Design

Chapter 1. Our World Has Changed

“Standing still is the fastest way of moving backwards in a rapidly changing world.”

—Lauren Bacall

On January 9, 2007, a man quietly walked onto a stage and changed the course of technological history. He announced that his company was about to launch a product that would forever change the way we communicate.

Then, in a dramatic fashion, he held up a phone he and his company had been working on for over five years. Reporters furiously captured images of the device, quickly sending them to every corner of the world. The man demonstrated how you could zoom out on images by making a pinching gesture and navigate your music library by swiping a single finger across the screen. He walked through various applications: a notepad, calendar, compass, and detailed maps. No one had seen anything like it. The phone seemed like a product of science fiction. But it was very real, and all of it was small enough to fit into your pocket.

Back then, I worked as a web programmer for a children’s hospital. I remember sitting at my desk watching the demonstration via a live blog and waiting what seemed like forever for the images to stream to my computer. As soon as I saw the first picture of the iPhone, I remember feeling as though I’d just witnessed something significant. At that moment, I hadn’t yet realized the extent of the iPhone’s impact on our industry; but as a developer, I could see that the bar had been raised. I knew the days of getting a pass for cluttered ...