Since the world has been introduced to screens, the average person spends over 43% of their waking hours interacting with a screen and that number has only increased since the start of the pandemic. Hence, the role of UX/UI designers is integral in ensuring a smooth and pleasant experience for end-users to interact with technology. However, with the development of technologies such as Apple’s Siri, Amazon's Alexa and Google Home, the rise of UX/UI interactions may be coming to a halt. Users can now engage with technology without the need of screens, this is known as Zero-UI.

Zero-UI is now an expanding domain; the term was first coined by designer Andy Goodman, and it is all about enhancing the usability away from touchscreen and screen devices. Since the introduction of screens we have been interacting with our devices through a Graphical User Interface (GUI). But is this the most efficient form of interaction to get so many of our daily tasks done? The need to download and familiarise ourselves with countless apps and websites has driven designers and developers to bring forth an interesting change in interface as we know it (Zero-UI). 

The aim of Zero-UI is to allow a more natural, efficient and smoother interaction between users and developers; the main point of interaction now being gestures and voice recognition. Zero-UI represents a whole new domain for designers to master or perhaps even represents a threat for them. UI designers now have multiple different dimensions to consider in optimising any end-user product such as voice recognition and control, haptic feedback, ambient, gesture based UI and context awareness alongside a heavy reliance on data and AI. 

Voice Recognition and Control: 

Perhaps the most natural way of interaction between humans but could that be applied to interaction between humans and technology? Through voice control the speed at which humans interact with technology could be improved dramatically as there is no longer a need to familiarise ourselves and navigate through menus, sub menus and we could achieve our goal merely by saying what's on our mind. Besides, a human being could on average speak between 150-180 words per minute but could only type 38-40 words per minute. 

Gestures: 

According to the Mehrabian model, the perception of humans throughout an interaction could be broken down into 3 key elements: words, tone of voice and body language. Interestingly only 7% of what we are trying to convey is done through words while the other 55% through body language and 38% through tone of voice. Hence gestures are incredibly important in developing and enhancing an end-users experience with technology. 

These are merely examples of how the interaction between humans and technologies could be enhanced and developed through the developing domain of Zero-UI. The progression of Zero-UI has been tremendously fast and is definitely a stepping stone towards the most efficient form of interaction for end users and another domain for designers to master in this era of ever changing technology. 

Savant is informed by market research and has a specialised Digital Design team with extensive experience and expertise in UX/UI talent solutions. If you are looking to build or expand your Design function, Savant can support you with the best talent in the industry with experts and market leading onboarding advice and consultation. To know more about how we can assist you, please reach out to us at - technology@savantrecruitment.com