NUI IN CONTEXT

Now that you’ve transcended your outmoded way of understanding cognition (you’re welcome), we can talk more meaningfully about Natural User Interface, or NUI. Let’s start at the beginning…

User interface has deep roots in industrial design. At the outset, it was all about the interaction between man and machine. Imagine a big, loud, steel contraption in a factory, with a bunch of cogs and levers and maybe a plume of steam shooting out the top for added drama, being operated by someone with impressive biceps, making the machine do its thing. The machine was designed with the operator’s (really nice) body in mind, which set the important precedent: “objects designed for controlling physical matter are designed to relate to, and interact, with the human body.“

Eventually, things evolved, which is awesome, because continued evolution is the key to life, (read: good design). User interface progressed to include machines that stored and processed information. At this point, everything moved up into our heads, and our collective biceps became pretty flabby. Users interacted with these new machines, calculators and computers, for example, with minimal bodily effort, a poke here, a click there, most often centered on some sort of screen, and we accidentally lost the intrinsic ability to relate to these machines via embodied cognition.

At Kicker, we recognize the limitations the design world suffered, as a result of the ongoing separation between the physical and mental. Many designers are still burdened by the long-held belief that cognition, or the “mind”, is separate from the functions of the body. However, we sophisticated types (that means you), have been shown again and again by embodied cognition research, that humans think with their whole bodies, so it follows that the interfaces we create need to reflect this shift in thinking. Interfaces need to transcend the screen, be fined-tuned to work efficiently and ergonomically with our anatomy. Emerging technologies have the potential to transform technology, so that body and mind are seen as one.Our passion has always been to use design to continue to make things easier, effortless even. We want to incite a revolution beyond visual interface. The original principals regarding working with the body’s inherent interaction with machines can finally be coupled with our device’s ability to store and process information. Embodied cognition is mounting an amazing design revolution that take into consideration the innate aptitudes of human anatomy and potentially, engage all the senses. We want technology that augments our human qualities to make us super human. We believe that understanding and utilizing our bodily cues and inclinations is fundamental to designing natural user interface that will yield the highest cognitive capacity.

The more we engage the body, the more effective we as humans think. Amplified through technology, tools that enable the use of the body and the mind working seamlessly, offer limitless possibilities.

Kicker Studio

We make technology speak human.

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