Presentation given at SXSW on March 12, 2010. Synced with the audio! Even though technology evolved at a crazy pace the last 100 years, the humble button has stayed at the center of it all. What is its past, its future? Why is it important? What does it say about the interaction between humans and technology? Pictures, stories, revelations, movies.
Text of History of the Button
Historyof the Button Bill DeRouchey
Hello. This incarnation of the History of the Button was
presented at SXSW on March 12, 2010. This slide deck is slightly
different from the live presentation. The main difference is that
the videos that were in the presentation have been translated here
to stills as best as possible. Enjoy. Also, narration boxes like
this are Bill DeRouchey extra notes to help fill in context where
necessary and point out [email protected] where this version
differed from @billder the live presentation.
About the audio. If youre listening to the audio, sorry about
the bad quality for the first 12 minutes. SXSW somehow cut off the
first 12 minutes. To make up for it, I had to slice in the audio
from my FlipCam recording, which was better than nothing. If youre
not listening to the audio, then it doesnt matter at all. Carry
on.
This is astory that spans over 100 years... As a contrast to
SXSW which focuses so much on the Now and the Future.
... about how we got from here to here...
buttons ... about how have changed how we understand our
world...
buttons ... about how have changed how ... think. we understand
our world.
Products Movies Advertisements Screens Well take almost an
anthropological approach by looking at these items to examine the
history of the button.
1910 1956 1984 2010 These were all movies in the original
presentation. The simplest motion.
1910 1956 1984 2010 These were all movies in the original
presentation. is just push the button.
This was a movie in the original presentation (from Apple.com).
Were in a transition....
This was a movie in the original presentation (from Apple.com).
a transitiontransition.... Were in a to Surface.
Transitions are interesting... because thats when our brains
change.
Generations of Interaction 1 Lever 2 Button now 3 Surface 4
Fluid We are currently in a transition from a button era to a
surface era.
Generations of Interaction 1 Lever 1900 2 Button 3 Surface 4
Fluid We should look to the previous transition to understand
today.
We are a bunch of smart monkeys. We figured out how to use the
objects in the world around us to augment our human motion. Bones
into shovels. Sticks into rakes. Iron into gears. We love our
tools.
For example, a gun can simply be understood as throwing a rock,
a tiny rock, much faster and with greater accuracy.
Pressing on the keys of a piano simply triggers a hammer
hitting a string. Motion is augmented.
You can see the Action. In the mechanical era, you can see
action happen, see how one motion affects another. You can follow
the results from action to result.
Levers scale motion. Scaling is the mechanical age.
Compressed Time Major advances in technology actually change
how we perceive the world. For example, train travel compressed our
sense of time between faraway places.
The telegraph changed our sense of connection over distance.
Instant communication across hundreds of miles for the first time.
Compressed Distance
But the button meant for the first time, the result of a human
motion could be completely different from the motion itself.
Abstracted Motion
The motion Push does not scale to the result Light. This
abstracted interaction with technology represented a new way to
comprehend the world.
Buttons abstract motion. Abstraction is the electronic
age.
What was the first button? This might be the most common
question people ask me.
The flashlight was the first simple everyday button. It
revolutionized our sense of light. What was the first button?
1898
Buttons enter Daily Life
George Eastman of Kodak introduced cameras for regular people.
1890s
Eastman used the phrase You Press the Button, We Do the Rest to
show how simple cameras can be. Button = easy. 1890s
Doorbells replaced pull ringers in homes. 1900s
As the electricity grid expanded, homes installed lights and
simple pushbuttons to turn the lights on and off. 1910s
Sidenote: An editorial cartoon from 1911 depicting a dark
vision of the future. Surrounded by technology, lazy, pushing
buttons. For a similar dystopian view, read the 1910 short story
The Machine Stops from E.M. Forster. 1911
The Opera Delivered to Your Door = Pandora The Observascope =
webcams Of course, all with a robot servant!
The next major tech innovation was the radio, sending live
audio from a distance. The opera really now was delivered to you.
The radio. 1920s
30 million radios sold by 1938. This was their Internet
boom.
But tuning to your favorite stations almost required a
scientist mentality. Until 1938 when radio presets (buttons)
exchanged the emphasis on tuning for returning. 1938 Radio
presets.
Essentially, radio presets were the first notion of saving in
technology. Save your favorite station. 1938 First notion of Save.
Radio presets.
Buttons represent The Future
1939 During the Great Depression, people looked to a better
future, capped by the Worlds Fair in 1939. New York Worlds
Fair
1939 Technology was heralded as the emancipator of leisure. A
shrine to the button?
Movie from 1940 depicting a vision of the future. With robots.
1940
Roys Robot Repair is helping this concerned woman with her
robot. 1940
She controls her robot with buttons. Roll-Oh can even fix a
furnace. 1940
When fixed, Roll-Oh fetches the nice repairmans hat. 1940
1958 Visions of the future continued, including this Monsanto
home, promoting both the wonders of plastics and pushbuttons.
Monsanto House of the Future
Another movie. 1958
The happy wife pushes buttons to access hidden compartments.
1958
The happy wife pushes buttons to access hidden compartments.
1958
The happy wife pushes buttons to control her home. 1958
Buttons represent Luxury
In the 1950s, the promise of pushbutton technology became
available to a wide variety of consumer items, providing a new
luxury for the middle class.
And in nearly every case, the phrase pushbutton became an
adjective communicating modern, luxury, advanced, new, easy.
1956
1958
1960
1959
1961
Now theres a woman in control of her laundry. 1959
So easy... even a woman can do it. And also in nearly every
case, women were used in ads to add the subtle message of, this new
technology is so easy to use, even a woman can use it.
Picture the classic Crossing the Chasm diagram of early
adopters vs. late adopters. Pushbutton meant that the product was
simple enough for late adopters to now buy. Buttons cross the
chasm.
This practice of using pushbutton continues today, but only in
the seamier parts of the web. Get rich quick!
Lose weight now! 1959
Join the Push Button Empire!
Returning to the living room, the remote control has become the
classic example of this pushbutton era. 1959
Because for the first time, regular people could control an
object from a distance. No wires! First control from a distance
1956
Buttons represent Fear
After WWII, we had automated war machinery so much that global
nuclear annihilation was perceived to be as easy as pushing a
button. And it may have been. Who has theirfinger on the
button?
Raising a generation on fear. 1950s
Buttons represent Control
At the same time, engineers were building complex machines
controlled by rows and rows of switches and buttons. We were
learning to automate.
At the same time, engineers were building complex machines
controlled by rows and rows of switches and buttons. We were
learning to automate.
Only a select few could understand these machines, could use
these buttons, using a highly specialized language.
Only a select few could understand these machines, could use
these buttons, using a highly specialized language.
From That Touch of Mink. Doris Day works at Univac. 1962
Shes fed up at working in this automation job. 1962
So she slams the machine. 1962
And leaves the machines running. (Note the Univac in the
background.) 1962
Chaos ensues. 1962
Buttons represent Play
Humpty Dumpty pinball machine was the first to use flippers.
1947 First pinball flippers.
First mechanical game where you can interact with the ball in
play to keep it in play. Beginning of a new era in gaming. 1947
First game interaction?
Generational 1977 Icon This Atari joystick revolutionized
gaming in the home.
Shape as Play 1978 Experimenting with the shape of the button
itself.
Arcades boomed in the 1970s
Dexterity in pushing buttons now became a prized skill,
generating an entire industry.
Buttons become Metaphor
Before this, buttons were physical things. The Macintosh in
1984 introduced to the general public the idea that buttons could
be virtual.
The virtual button still needs a physical button. 1964
The virtual button still needs a physical button. 1984
This concept was so new that Apple needed to educate people
simply how to use a mouse. They took out 39 pages of advertising in
Newsweek to essentially publish a users manual. Education through
Advertising 1984
Notice the incredible detail to communicate the basics of
something we take for granted. Education through Advertising
1984
Notice the incredible detail to communicate the basics of
something we take for granted. 1984
Buttons lose Shape
With the web, buttons could become anything. They didnt need a
specific shape that said Im a button. They could be blue text and
underlined. 1996
Images, text, anything is now actionable. As an example, the
next page shows everything that can be acted upon. Compare it to
this page.
Nearly everything can be acted upon. This has changed how we
perceive the world around us. All items can have deeper
connection.
We even understand that simple gray text is actionable, simply
from its location to its neighbors. We assume that Work is a link.
2010
But would we assume that here?
Buttons go Touch
Touchscreens are becoming everyday interactions.
Touchscreens are becoming everyday interactions.
The poster child of touch.
Now taking orders
Where are we now?
Buttons dont need... form borders contour shape words
ornamentation
... and yet, we attribute to them ease process magic control
play simplicity automation
think about We now objects with depth and time, instead of just
static things.
We are approaching a time when anything is interactive.
Gesture interaction game designed by Ziba for Li Ning in
China.
Imagine somebody 100 years ago encountering this device.
Imagine somebody 100 years ago encountering this device.
Generations of Interaction 1 Lever 2 Button 3 Surface soon 4
Fluid The next generation will feature dynamic surfaces.
Dynamic tactile surfaces will create disposable physical
interfaces.
If it was rumored to be in the iPad, then the technology must
be only a few years away.
Research on dynamic tactile surfaces from Chris Harrison and
Scott Hudson at Carnegie Mellon University.
When buttons can essentially have a disposable physical form,
we can build interfaces into any surface.
Meaning our entire surroundings can be interactable. Imagine
the generation that grows up with that.
And the next generation?
Imagine growing up in a world where touchscreens and
interactive gestures are a given. How does that affect your brain
processing?
Imagine growing up in a world where touchscreens and
interactive gestures are a given. How does that affect your brain
processing?
Imagine growing up in a world where touchscreens and
interactive gestures are a given. How does that affect your brain
processing?
The button has been a 100 year transition technology from the
mechanical age to the truly electronic age.
The button represents how we interact with the objects we
create.
And thats why the button is the most influential yet least
appreciated innovation of the 20th Century.