The first time I heard about “High tech — High touch” was when attending a speech at the University of California, Irvine, many years ago. As a computer engineer, I paid attention to the “high tech” part, how new technology development would revolutionize our world in the future. The “High touch” part was of little interest to me then. I did not see the connection between “tech” and “touch”. However, I remembered the concept.
Today, when I look back, I highly admire the visionary professor giving the interesting presentation — and how he, at that time, was able to see the importance of the link between the two entities. This was the time when all engineers only talked about advancements in technology. Technology was the focal point — everything else was of next to no importance. I remember we engineers discussed how we in the near future would be able to integrate microprocessors into various “low tech” devices to give them a lift with more features. As the engineers saw new possibilities, the product features kept increasing. More buttons were added and the complexity increased. The perception was, however, from the engineer’s point of view, that the more buttons and options — the more advanced and valuable product. The operating manuals got thicker and the language got more complicated. A large industry grew up training people to operate and maintain the advanced technological monsters. Technology -“high tech”- became the focal point. A gap emerged, and grew wider, between technology, and the practical use thereof. User intimidation and complicated technology became partners. Technology started to rule our lives and we slowly became victims of the perceived advanced technology. In a sense, we were trapped in “hi tech”.
In retrospect, the situation reminds me of the famous saying: “If you own more than 3 things — the things start to own you”. I could rewrite this to say: “The more technology you own — the more technology own you”. In his book “Megatrends”, published in the 1980’s, Jon Naisbitt put his finger on the danger of this trend. Years later, the technology pendulum started to swing back. Slowly companies began creating devices easier to use in order to appeal to a widening market. Industrial designer became involved not only creating the shape, but also involved in the shaping the functionality and the ease of use. The trend of technology focus was about to reverse. “High tech” and “high touch” found some common ground. “High touch” awareness was about to lead us out of the trap! We started asking ourselves: How can this marvelous technology be used to enrich our day to day lives? Or even reverse the question from: How can we understand technology? To: How can technology understand us? A big and long step! Does this shift suggest that technology is no longer important?
Advanced technology is important as never before. But, for us to reap the maximum benefits from the advances in technology, it has to be a balance between “hi tech” and “high touch”. Let me give you 3 examples of the “high tech — high touch” concept: If you were interested in a new car in the “high tech” age — the good salesman opened the hood of the car and started to explain how the new twin carburetor was working. His technical pitch was supposed to do the trick. And it did. Now in the more balanced “high touch — high touch” age the salesman are more likely to ask you what kind of music you like — or what kind of color you like. An appeal to your emotion — a “high touch” approach for selling a “high tech” car.
To operate a computer in the “high tech” age required expert training. The iterations were complicated — and we engineer were proud it was — as some of us could be perceived as high valued experts! When Apple introduced the symbol of the garbage can for files to be deleted … many of the computer experts had a good laughter …. This is not real computing … this looks like a silly game, many said. Thereafter it was possible for a person without special training to delete a file. The “high touch” was introduced to computers!
When Windows was replacing DOS as operating system, not significant improvements were made to the operating system itself. With the graphic symbols appearance on the screen, people without special training could start using the computers. “Picture worth a thousand words” came into play. The “high touch” experience became reality. The rest of the story we know we experience every day.
So why bother to make things simple …. when it is so easy to make it complicated? It’s true .. we all do it, every day. The challenge, however, is to make complicated issues simple. It takes special efforts — but it is worth striving for. In new product creation, engineers and industrial designers are encouraged to work closely together to bridge the possible gap between technology and common human perception. Does such effort pay off? Take a look at iPhone from Apple! A fruitful balance, “high tech — high touch”.
Copyright (c) 2013 Erlend Brekke