What Do We Lose When Everything Is Intuitive?
What Do We Lose When Everything Is Intuitive? An easy path can be a kindness—or a trap. Framing the Question Intuitive design is praised because it lets us act without instruction. That is exactly why it deserves examination. When an experience helps us pay, escape, navigate, or avoid error, smoothness is humane. But when it is meant to help us reflect, discover, resist habit, or form an original thought, productive friction may be better than immediate ease. Not Every Door Should Open Before You Knock No: intuitive is not always better. An interface should be intuitive when the user already knows what they want and the design’s job is to help them do it accurately. Nobody benefits from a confusing emergency exit, an obscure “save” function, or a checkout page that turns payment into a riddle. But an interface is doing a different job when its purpose is to change the user’s state of mind. A puzzle that explains itself immediately has failed. A journaling prompt followed instantly by...