Reimagining the role of the expert: From interface design to interface curation

Abstract

User Interface (UI) design has been a core topic of HCI research for several decades. Equipped with design skills and knowledge, the expert interface designer meticulously analyses a design brief, conceptualises design ideas, and constructs viable solutions. The intended outcome of this tedious process is a usable and aesthetically-pleasing UI. Classical approaches in HCI have relied upon providing designers with guidelines, heuristics, and best practices for realising good designs. In recent years, computational approaches have turned towards formalising and automating parts of the design process. In this provocation, I claim that the future expert will hand over the task of creating design solutions entirely to the machine, and instead take on the role of an interface curator who inspects a set of feasible designs and picks out the best possible solutions for a given problem. I discuss the current state of computational interface design, and suggest a path forward towards realising this vision.