Graeme is the creator of a popular UX Prototyping Tools site, where he does everything from content strategy and design, to front end development. He’s always making new stuff, and enjoys sharing what he’s learning on his blog. He’s also employed by IBM as a designer on the IBM Watson Internet of Things.
Many apps today, such as Google Now, Spotify and Amazon, make assumptions about user preferences based on personal data. They may even use this information to make decisions on our behalf, without any direct input from us. For example, Facebook tailors your news feed and Amazon recommends products — both hiding “irrelevant” information and only showing what they think you will like.
This type of design pattern, where user choice is removed, has recently been coined “anticipatory design”. Its aim is to leverage data on user behavior to automate the decision-making process in user interfaces. The outcome lowers the excessive number of decisions people currently make, thereby reducing decision fatigue and improving decisions overall.
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