Physics Matters

Hi, everyone.

I am writing this letter with a brand-new keyboard which, if you’ve been following McLuhan’s insights I’ve shared about Medium, should tell you that the keyboard of choice is indeed a big deal as it shapes my demeanor while I write. This effect can be observed by simply seeing the difference between what you produce when you write with a pen v/s typing with various keyboards. The instrument of choice influences the art one produces with it.

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And hence, it is of utmost importance to maintain a synergy among all the keyboards I use to write, be it on my laptop, a peripheral to my iPad and so on. Switching among radically different keyboards produce a dissonance that is unnecessary friction while I’m in the flow of writing.
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This keyboard by NUPHY goes over my laptop’s keyboard, and is very portable to be carried anywhere and used with iPad, while still being “mechanical” enough to be primarily used on my desk. I layout a ”Pro” everywhere writing-setup in this Twitter Thread : Link​

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Let's get on with today's letter.

It was 2009 when I first laid my eyes on an iPhone. The slider to unlock was similar to any physical slider I had seen, and every button looked similar to physical world. But it still felt quite strange by virtue of it being under a glass. The UI attempted to replicate the physical world and the term for this was Skuemorphism.

But the mimicking was obviously phoney and it’s days were numbered as humans were increasingly spending more active attention in the digital world rather than the physical. Why should then the former be made in the image of the latter!

The Physics of Software UI

The design community responded by making everything “flat” as there was no reason for digital elements to be “thick”. Windows demonstrated this first in what was named as Metro UI. It’s first iteration was seen in Windows Phone and then Windows 8, both of which failed. There was something quite alienating about digital elements that were just “flat” with no rhyme or reason as to why they were made the way they were, why they moved in a certain way or how one could presume to interact with them.

It is here where folks at Google, tasked with creating a whole new design language for Android, and led by Martias Duarte, gave software it’s own laws of physics.

Let‘s ask a simple question: “What is underneath what you see on your screen right now?” What you see is some words on a digital "sheet of paper", but what is below this sheet? There need not be anything, but what happens when there is. Then you can slide away the sheet of paper, or a card, to reveal another element. Just as in physical world, the digital screen is illuminated by a light, and so it can be shown to create drop-shadows as they slide over each other. Similarly, the digital elements must arrive to the top as if your fingers are magnets. And must create ripples when you tap, like those in a magnetic field.

The digital world is created by actual physical elements and there should be a meaningful relationship established between the software inside and the human outside. This meaning stems from a intuitive sense of physics that can be formalized and can govern these interactions. This new physics was conceptualized by the pioneers of Material Design.

While describing the Unification of UI Design that happened across everything, designer and entrepreneur, Robert Mayer has this to say:

“Material Design doesn’t just create order, it creates order with purpose and meaning. It became one of the most influential visual philosophies in design, shaping the way people see and interact with interfaces.“

While designers have created all sorts of design languages for their products, all of them in some way embody the physics of Material Design. And digital design is fundamentally better as a result of it.

🕶 Inspiration

Martias Duarte & Team, the creators of Material Design

Obviously, do check out this video of Martias Duarte explaining how they created Material Design.
(Link)

🎬 Art Appreciation

Tell DC that Physics Matters

Physics matters. And as individuals in various fields realize that, they bring about profound implications to their field. And while not ignoring the physics might seem obvious, it can be surprisingly rare for individuals to account for it. And this deficiency can be expected in a world of superheroes where the characters are always weird/magical shit. But Marvel still manage to account for this deficiency, but DC didn't .This is what Evan Puschack of Nerdwriter elaborates on, in this video, while analysing why DC Movies fails while Marvel Cinematic Universe takes over the world. Someone tell the folks at DC that Physics matters.
(Link)

🛒 Products

Products embodying Physical Relationship.

Digital artists see a spectrum of effects actuated by a combination of controls, and to be able to manipulate these simultaneously can be essential to the creative flow. This is not possible with a mouse and keyboard alone. And so to have a better “physical” relationship with the various controls, Loupedeck created a console with "knobs, sliders and buttons", to able to manipulate the software with both hands and multiple controls simultaneously.
(Link)

One of the reasons I evangelize people to read Information Theory by James Gleick, is that it explains why Information is NOT some abstract entity, but something very physical. Information is order that forms that fabric of Reality. Information is Physical.

If you would like your friends to get on our bandwagon of Productize Philosophy:

Just copy this link: https://www.abhishek1point0.com/newsletter​
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​Do reply, and as always any thoughts, criticisms and feedback, is most valued.
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Talk Soon,
Abhishek Agarwal
​Blog | Twitter

1. Check out the Free Email Course: "How to Productively Consume Information Online"​
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2. Manifesto for my software product: "Project MEMEX Manifesto"​
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3. ​My Website.

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