by jessica.schiller -

Calm UX in Healthcare

What Designing for Vulnerability Teaches Us About UX Everywhere

In the previous article, I explored how Calm UX becomes essential when digital products start predicting, recommending, and acting on users’ behalf. As systems grow more intelligent and autonomous, clarity, control, and psychological safety are no longer optional—they are prerequisites for trust.

Healthcare takes this one step further.

Healthcare is often treated as a special category in UX design—a domain with its own rules, constraints, and sensitivities. But it is not defined by different principles. It is defined by a different context of use. Healthcare doesn’t require new UX fundamentals; it requires existing ones to perform under pressure.

In healthcare contexts, users are rarely relaxed, curious, or exploratory. They interact with products while anxious, cognitively overloaded, emotionally vulnerable, or afraid of making mistakes. That makes healthcare products a powerful stress test for UX as a discipline.

If an interface fails under these conditions, it doesn’t fail because healthcare is “special.” It fails because the design was never truly calm, clear, or human-centered to begin with.

Healthcare as an Extreme UX Environment

Much of mainstream UX quietly assumes ideal conditions:

  • stable attention
  • emotional neutrality
  • tolerance for exploration
  • low cost of errors

Healthcare strips these assumptions away.

Users engage with health products while processing emotionally charged information, navigating uncertainty and risk, experiencing cognitive fatigue or distress, and fearing irreversible consequences. Under these conditions, even small ambiguities or unnecessary decisions can escalate into anxiety. This reveals a crucial insight:

Many interfaces rely on idealized users. Healthcare reveals real ones.

Calm UX becomes critical here not because healthcare is unique, but because it removes the safety buffer that often hides poor UX elsewhere. When attention is scarce and emotional stakes are high, only designs that genuinely reduce cognitive load and uncertainty can hold up.


Where Healthcare Reveals Broken UX Assumptions

Healthcare UX tends to fail in the same places where mainstream UX quietly struggles—but the consequences are far more visible. Designing for healthcare also means designing for neurodivergence and mental health, which exposes fundamental truths about how people actually interact with systems under strain.

Users with ADHD, anxiety, autism, or depression are more sensitive to cognitive load, less tolerant of ambiguity, more affected by interruptions, and more easily disoriented. These are often treated as edge cases, but they are not. They represent states that all users enter under stress—and healthcare places everyone in that state.

This is where many interfaces break down:

  • alarmist language that escalates uncertainty instead of explaining it
  • silent systems that leave users unsure whether an action succeeded
  • dense information displays that prioritize completeness over comprehension
  • binary outcomes presented without context or confidence framing

Outside healthcare, these issues cause frustration. Inside healthcare, they lead to anxiety, mistrust, and hesitation.

Calm UX reframes these moments by separating information from urgency, acknowledging uncertainty rather than hiding it, layering complexity instead of front-loading it, and reinforcing user agency at every step.

Calm UX as an Opportunity in Healthcare

In healthcare, Calm or Mindful UX is not about “being nice”—it’s about designing with a clear understanding of human limits. This means explicitly considering the user’s emotional and cognitive state: how much attention they can realistically give, how much information they can process, and how uncertainty might amplify fear or hesitation. It also means designing systems that reassure without misleading, guiding users without overwhelming them.

Focusing on Calm UX in healthcare doesn’t just improve health products. Much like accessibility features, it advances UX practice as a whole by grounding design decisions in real human constraints—and by bringing those improvements into everyday products where everyone can benefit.

My Conclusion to Calm UX and Calm Technology

The principles of Calm Technology are not a new discipline, but are already deeply embedded in established UX approaches—across digital and physical product design, and in domains such as healthcare and AI. UX has reached a level of maturity where the focus is no longer only on efficiency or fixing major usability issues, but on consciously considering people and their emotional experience throughout the process. Calm Technology makes this focus explicit, much like accessibility does, reminding us that user-centered design cannot meaningfully exist without these principles.

References:

AI Assistance Disclaimer:

AI tools were used to improve grammar and phrasing. The ideas, examples, and content remain entirely the author’s own.

by elisa.berger -

Next steps – migraine solutions

This is the final blog post about my research. The next steps would be to

  • conduct interviews with medical experts (neurologists and also psychologists spezialized in migraine)
  • develop a first prototype
  • evaluate the prototype by doing interviews with migraine patients to make sure this solution is truly tailored to their needs

The interviews with migraine patients are something I would really be interested in since the survey already revealed some new information to me. And in this case talking to different migraineurs is essential since the user group is diverse and so is their experience with their disease.

Dawn Buse, a clinical professor of neurology, shares, “Unlike visible illnesses that tend to elicit empathy, support, and help from people around [them], the invisible nature of migraine places the burden on the individual to advocate for themselves continually, which can be exhausting and emotionally taxing.” Living with migraine is both physically and mentally challenging which is why I decided to choose it as the topic for my investagation in the first place.

My goal was to gain a deeper understanding of this complex neurological disease and although it was frustrating to realize that many aspects of it are are still not investigated enough or unclear I was able to find helpful explanations of the current state of medicine.

Lastly I would like to share a website I stumbled across while researching about migraine apps. It is called www.migraineagain.com and I do believe it is one of the most helpful informative mediums I have found so far.

Migraine Again Landing Page

The articles are up-to-date (most of them from 2025) which ensures recent research is included and new findings e.g. about latest treatments are elaborated. From explanations about the disease, prevention methods, treatment the website also provides topics such as self care, work and life and community. This psychological part about the disease tends to be left out in apps and what I criticised about Migraine Buddy app.

I can recommend this page to everyone struggling with migraine as I found some articles to be really informative but also in easy language unlike research papers about the disorder. It also includes lots of illustrations or info images about migraine and the difference between triggers and the causes e.g. the images below.

Image from Migraine Again 1

Image from Migraine Again 2

In an article about migraine devices and treatments I learned about devices I had never heard of. The community of Migraine Again was asked in a poll to share their favorite medical devices for migraine. Since everything is briefly explained and the experience/ effectiveness is discussed an overview over rather “niche” devices is created.

I want to give you one example:

Earplugs by WeatherX are designed to prevent migraine attack symptoms triggered by weather changes. They work by slowing down the shift in barometric pressure. They can be used with their app, which offers customizable alerts to incoming barometric pressure changes.


I haven’t heard about these earplugs before and would be interested to test them out. But more important is the access to already reviewed methods or devices by other migraineurs to me. Educating the community and offering a newsletter to keep it updated seems like a great idea!

Sources:

by anna.prass -

Boosting children’s self-esteem (Stefanie Stahl)

At the beginning of my research, I listed a podcast episode from the “So bin ich eben!” podcast by renowned psychologist, psychotherapist, and bestselling author Stefanie Stahl and psychologist and podcaster Lukas Klaschinski as a possible source. Since Stefanie Stahl has focused primarily on working with the inner child and building self-esteem and healthy relationships, it seemed very appropriate to me to include what she has to say on the subject.

In this episode, Stefanie Stahl and Lukas Klaschinski give tips on how to promote children’s self-esteem: not only for parents, but also for everyone else who deals with children on a daily basis. Although the episode is mainly told from the parents’ perspective, I think that much of it can also be applied to how teachers interact with children. In addition, I would like to conclude by exploring the extent to which the aspects mentioned can be incorporated into the game.

At the beginning of the episode, Stefanie once again emphasizes the importance of self-esteem for later life, describing it as the epicenter. She says it is a gift for life that adults can give to children.

The topic of the episode was inspired by an email from a listener: a mother describes how her son no longer wants to go to soccer practice because he is not as good as the other children and feels ashamed of his abilities. The mother asks for tips on how to encourage him and boost his self-esteem. Since this example is closely related to the topic of physical education, I wanted to mention it in this article.

At the beginning, the two psychologists explain that it is important to sometimes stick with something for longer in order to realize that things can change for the better and that you can achieve things. However, you shouldn’t force anything, as the child may later develop an aversion to the activity.

A concrete solution for the example situation is therefore to talk openly with the child and explain what you are concerned about (learning opportunity, seeing things through), validate the child’s feelings, and accept the child’s decision if they do not change their mind.

The following general tips are explained:

– Important: Love and secure attachment, empathy, recognizing the child’s needs -> Parents must have good access to their own feelings

– Presence: Children should not be sent to daycare in their first year of life if possible. Parents must convey security, be reliable; a repeated pattern of dashed hopes is not good for building secure attachment behavior

– Encourage the child, do not link love to expectations or performance

– Read the child’s signals, recognize and respect physical boundaries, do not overwhelm them with closeness -> Children are not at the mercy of adults; children must learn that they have the right to communicate their boundaries; adults must ensure that other adults respect their children’s boundaries

– Autonomy: the child must have the opportunity to assert their opinion sometimes, otherwise they will become conflict-averse later on and feel that there is no point in expressing their own opinions/needs at all -> if agreements are negotiated with the child, they are more likely to stick to them

– Autonomy -> Children learn that relationships can be actively shaped and are not something that must be endured, but that it is still important to find balance and set boundaries.

– Self-efficacy: Children should take on age-appropriate responsibilities, do things for themselves, and take on tasks. You have to trust children, because self-confidence is learned through the trust of others.

– Mistakes are okay and opportunities to learn. This way, children are not ashamed and develop a better tolerance for frustration.

– Encourage strengths and talents, reinforce a positive self-image, do not praise too much or pointlessly (i.e., for trivial things), because then the child will not feel taken seriously and credibility will be lacking -> so praise and recognize real strengths, focus on the process rather than the result, e.g., recognize perseverance.

– If a child is “always exceptional” because they are praised for everything, they feel that they always have to be exceptional.

– Know your own background and be self-reflective: what did I want (when I was little), how did I grow up, how did my parents influence me, and what does my child actually want? Your own issues should not be transferred to your child.

– Children need to have friends and feel like they belong.

– Be a positive role model: How do I talk about myself as a parent, how good am I at dealing with conflict, do I come across as confident, do I set good boundaries for myself, and do I stand up for my needs?

– Establish rituals to promote a positive self-image.

How can these tips be applied to physical education?

One aspect that is very important to me is that the focus should not be on the end result, i.e., the specific performance, but on the process and learning success. This also goes hand in hand with meaningful praise, i.e., not only students who perform well should be praised, but all students should receive praise for things they have done well, such as high perseverance or a high willingness to learn, or even social skills such as helpfulness. I think it would be useful to address this specifically in the game instructions for teachers, even though this knowledge should already be available to them due to their educational background. In my opinion, teachers also have a responsibility to be vigilant and recognize when a child’s physical boundaries are not being respected, and to intervene in an emergency and point this out to the children.Here is an exercise that I know from my work with young people: The children stand in two rows facing each other, a few meters apart. Then one row moves toward the other, and the children who remain standing have the task of saying “stop” when the other person gets too close to them. The distance that results is different for each child, but it is important for the children to recognize that personal space is different for everyone and must be respected. It also gives the children the opportunity to learn about their own personal space and to set boundaries in a protected environment. Another task for the teacher is to recognize when a child feels excluded and to ensure that they feel part of the group. This task can also be achieved through the game by promoting teamwork and togetherness.

I have already discussed promoting the individual strengths of each student at length in previous posts, so I don’t want to go into this aspect in greater depth here.

Students should be given the opportunity to actively participate in the design and implementation of the game. This gives them the feeling that their opinion is important and their needs are being seen. It also teaches them to do things on their own and take responsibility, which gives them a sense of self-efficacy.

Another particularly important aspect of physical education is fostering a positive culture of error. Mistakes should be allowed and given to children as learning opportunities. If an exercise is not yet being performed correctly, children should not feel that they are not good enough, but should reflect on how they can use the mistake to identify ways to improve their technique.

Finally, it occurred to me to incorporate small rituals at the beginning or end of the lesson. Ideally, these would fit seamlessly into the game concept or storyline, so that the rituals seem more natural and less imposed from outside. For example, the students could sit in a circle or in small groups and reflect on what they are particularly looking forward to today, even if it’s just small things, or what they did well today and where they have improved. I also think it would be helpful if each child said something about their neighbor that they are good at or did well today. This gives the children external validation and confirms their positive self-image. It also trains the children to see and appreciate individual strengths in others and challenges them to engage with other children with whom they might not otherwise have much to do and to perceive them in their entirety.

Sources

Stahl, Stefanie, Klaschinski, Lukas: So bin ich eben! Stefanie Stahls Psychologie-Podcast für alle “Normalgestörten”. 5 psychologische Tipps, die das Selbstwertgefühl von Kindern fördern. URL: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4AHoVP7Uplw2AJ8EbH9JLq?si=55257233ed6a4d4a, published on may 13th 2025 on Spotify

Image: https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67656300005f1faf7c3ec00e4ab2a4732c54f9

by elisa.berger -

Analysis of migraine tracking Apps Pt.2 – Migraine Buddy

This week’s blog post topic will be another migraine App called Migraine Buddy. It is one of the first results in the App Store of this category and rated with 4.8 Stars from 5.

I chose this app since I had never used it before and due to my curiosity because of the high rating.

The first entry screen asks the user to add an entry for their last migraine attack.

Home screen

dashboard focuses on the positive painfree days but I fear it could be hard to read for migraineurs with a high frequency rate to see a number that is just very small and therefore not positive for them.

Benefits

This app offers a great variety of features:

One feature that I noticed was the adaptility for indivual preferences due to the “adapt homescreen button”. This button ensures that users can adapt the screen to their liking and show the information that is useful to them.

Home screen

I believe that from a user experience point of view this is a great feature to help migraineurs decide what aspect they want to focus on since the app provides a lot of information which could be overwhelming or uninteresting for some users.

Migraine also offers a sleep track feature which caught my attention as well. Since a good sleep quality is an important part of migraine prevention it seems plausible as why users could also track their sleep with the app. They need to give the app access to their notifications and gps.

Sleep screen

The options screen below shows more helpful features

  • export feature of data
  • questionnaires to receive more tips
  • a personal migraine impact Report
  • survey about migraine treatment to participate voluntarily
Options screen

I noticed an error since the migraine impact error is displayed twice (one in spanish since it was my system’s default language before and one in german). This seems to be a bug that needs to be fixed.

Besides, users can also add more data concerning their health such as menstruation, other diseases and treatments, etc.

Health screen

As I have mentioned before in previous blog posts, migraine is considered a complex neurological disorder that is difficult to generalize since every experience is different for each migraineur. Therefore adding more entry options in an organized way can be helpful to get a better understanding of one’s disease.

Cons

One feature I came across made me question if it is suitable for migraineurs. It is the report feature which is meant to give users helpful insights into their attacks, support and medication (see image below)

Report screen

But the insights are not visible yet and it says “track 9 more attacks to see more”. My immediate impression was negative and that the wording seems insensitive to the target group’s suffering. Migraineurs that suffer from migraine attacks once or twice a month (aka episodic migraine) would have to wait several months to receive helpful information and I can only imagine how frustrating that must feel. Personally, if i would have to wait 9 months to track 9 migraine attacks to finally receive more information I wouldn’t use this app anymore. If you downloaded an app to track your migraine you are probably doing it to proactively get help or find solutions for your chronic neurological disorder.

Therefore, an option where users could still receive general information and education about lifestyle or sleep changes could be an idea to avoid the negative thought of “I have to suffer first to unlock more insights”. The information provided then could change once the user has tracked their triggers and attacks consistently and adapt to the individual person.

Conclusion

All in all, migraine buddy also offers entry options for migraine attacks and calendar overview and export option for appointments with neurologists like the Migräne App by the pain clinic Kiel from the previous blog post.

However, migraine buddy offers a more appealing design and visuals. The dark mode design probably was selected to consider light sensibility of the users and therefore more suitable.

It offers a great variety of interesting features but I see a lack of communciation of one important aspect of tracking. The consequence of tracking everything and using an app to enter data consistently about every single detail of your day could be negative for users. What are the downsides of tracking everything? Could it have a negative impact on the mental health of migraineurs to focus so much on stress and lifestyle management?

Personally, I have made the experience of trying to optimize my lifestyle by analyzing everything using an app and focusing on

  • exercise – but not too much as it could cause an attack due to exhaustion. But also not too less since exercise is reported to help to reduce the frequency of attacks
  • weather – seeing weather changes in an app that you know are likely to cause an attack can cause internal stress days before the day even starts
  • sleep – you are supposed to sleep well and consistently but also not too much as some people experience migraine when they relax as well
  • diet – don’t skip meals, eat regularily but what if you travel and you didn’t get to prepare a meal beforehand? Yes, even then you stress about it

These are just examples of my thoughts were taken over by overanalyzing thoughts due to apps I used. Since I suffer from episodic migraine I can tell you how awful it feels to live a “perfect” routine but still get a heavy attack at the end of the day. I ended up asking myself “what have I done wrong? Is it my fault?”. The answer is no. The cause for migraine lies in the genetics of a person and their brain and since there still is no cure migraineurs can only aim to live a balanced live to reduce attacks but getting rid of the attacks is not possible yet.

Need for scientific proof as a next step

Although I would interview more migraineurs about their opinions to prove if they have had a similar experience I still believe that an important information should be given to users during the use of the app. The app is meant to help identify patterns but it should be done carerfully with reminders of taking care of their mental health regurarily or seek professional help from a therapist if needed.

by anna.prass -

Hybrid Games

For my next blog post, I wanted to find out which games already combine analog and digital elements. It seemed obvious to me to search for the term “hybrid games,” but all I found were digital games that are a mixture of several game genres or a mixture of story and game. So I asked Gemini what games that are a mix of analog and digital are called, and came across the term “phygital games.”

Phygital Games

During a Google search on this topic, I came across Phygital Games of the Future, an event featuring competitions in esports and real sports. In the sport of phygital basketball, players first compete against each other on a digital basketball court in a video game and then, after a 5-minute break, play against each other on a real basketball court. I found the concept quite interesting, but I had hoped that digital and analog would happen more simultaneously and that the digital features would take the analog game to the next level – which I assumed due to quite misleading images on the website [1]. Unfortunately, this is not the case with this event, as the two worlds are separated from each other. Since this was the only approach I found to Phygital Games, I ended my research on the topic at this point and focused on the use of digital media in physical education.

1) Image on the Phygital Games of the Future Website

Video games in physical education

This led me to an article about a university project at the Ludwigsburg University of Education in which students from various teaching disciplines worked with a primary school class at Rosensteinschule. The aim of the project was to transfer well-known video games into the real world and use them in physical education. On various project days, the games Super Mario, Pacman, SuperTuxCart, Angry Birds, Temple Run, Moorhuhn, and Townsmen were brought to life. The selection criteria for the games were their level of popularity, so that already familiar game principles could be built upon, their popularity among schoolchildren and students, as well as their design and educational potential and youth media protection requirements.

The concept was developed as follows: After selecting a suitable game, it was analyzed in terms of its underlying storyline, intention, basic activities, strategy, and communication. The use of media was then designed and planned to determine the extent to which children could be given the opportunity for creative participation and independent activity.

Use of media

To integrate digital games into the lessons, one or more digital devices were used depending on the game, including tablets, projectors, green screens, GoPro, Nintendo Labo, and Makey Makey.

For the Super Mario game, for example, a tablet was used as a panel to play sounds from the game. The children had to perform a specific movement depending on the sound and had to recognize the sounds from the game to do so.

Some games used a buzzer or controller built with Makey Makey. In most cases, the game itself or a live broadcast from the current player’s GoPro was also projected onto the gym wall using a projector.

2) Building a buzzer with Makey Makey

A green screen enabled immersion in the jungle world of the game Temple Run. Each student’s run was recorded and could be watched live by the other students or analyzed afterwards by the student themselves. In this game, there was a scene in which the students had to swing on a trapeze (= vine) through a fire. A still image of this scene was later printed out as a photo so that the students could take it home with them. However, the students observed that the pupils were bothered by the fact that the trapeze was visible in the photo – they had high expectations for a realistic representation of the situation. During the design phase, the students considered this circumstance to be negligible, which shows how different the expectations of pupils and students can be. [2]

3) Jungle world in Temple Run

Advantages of digitally supported physical education

The use of digital games in physical education opens up opportunities for immersion and involvement. They create “access to children’s inner perception (…) through the forms of expression of movement, play, storytelling, and imagination in a kind of symbolic transfer (…) of interpersonal communication” (Marquardt, Anja: Gaming im Sportunterricht, p. 107. Translated to english with DeepL Translator). Students slip into new roles, embody avatars, and identify with their character traits and strengths. This creates a new perspective that goes hand in hand with newly gained self-confidence, a strong urge to move, and new body movements. It can also help students find their identity and promote self-efficacy. For example, students observed that a rather shy student suddenly dared to climb over a high obstacle.

Digital games also make it easier to use neglected or feared sports equipment such as the trapeze or the vaulting horse. Creative reinterpretations of the equipment as a “mountain,” “coin,” or obstacle alienate the equipment and can thus alleviate students’ fears. [2]

4) Student climbing over an obstacle

Conclusion

I found this article particularly helpful as inspiration for the use of media, but I also enjoyed seeing that the concept was well received by the students and was able to break old patterns. I also found the principle of role-playing and the associated benefits very convincing. I wonder why I didn’t come across the article sooner.

For my own concept, I could well imagine incorporating numerous sports equipment items as artifacts for building the world or the playing field, in addition to digital media, and offering students the opportunity to contribute creatively to the design of the world. Collaboration with other subjects such as art or crafts/creative design would also be conceivable. For example, students could design certain materials they need, such as the thief or food cards in the “Who did it?” game, themselves, thus giving them a more personal connection to the game.

5) Thief cards in “Who did it?” (German: Wer war’s?)

Sources

[1] Phygital Games of the Future: Disciplines. URL: https://gofuture.games/disciplines/, last opened 09.02.2026

[2] Marquardt, Anja (2019): Gaming im Sportunterricht – virtuelle Bewegungsräume schaffen reale Bewegungsanlässe. In: Junge, Thorsten/Niesyto, Horst (Hrsg.): Digitale Medien in der Grundschullehrerbildung. Erfahrungen aus dem Projekt dileg-SL. Schriftenreihe Medienpädagogik interdisziplinär, Band 12. München: Verlag kopaed, S. 103-116.
Found under this URL: https://www.ph-ludwigsburg.de/fileadmin/phlb/hochschule/fakultaet1/erziehungswissenschaft/medienpaedagogik/12-Abgeschlossene_Projekte/dileg_SL/dileg-SL-2019-Marquardt_-_Gaming_im_Sportunterricht.pdf

Images

1) https://gofuture.games/uploads/media/20250305205658010396e8c78a06451049908879175521d/medium.webp

2) https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0162/8612/files/wireto_foil_600x600.jpg?v=1643832686

3) https://heise.cloudimg.io/v7/_www-heise-de_/download/media/temple-run-93154/temple-run-1_1-1-20.jpg?org_if_sml=1&q=75&width=998

4) https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSmyKITKwqVT7P4zXrPL–okZ4rOcgfsAQHpA&s

5) https://www.brettspiele-report.de/images/w/wer_wars/wer_wars_beispiel_12.jpg

by artun.sepken -

Designing for Interrupted Experiences

Across my previous research and posts, interruption has appeared repeatedly as a central condition of contemporary interaction. From notifications and social media to cognitive load, emotional cost and recovery, interruption is not an exception to interaction but a structural feature of it. This final blog brings these strands together and reframes interruption as a design material rather than a problem to eliminate.

One of the most consistent findings across HCI research is that when an interruption occurs matters as much as that it occurs. Adamczyk and Bailey’s work on interruption timing demonstrates that interruptions placed at structurally meaningful moments within a task; such as boundaries between subtasks, produce significantly less frustration, annoyance, and cognitive effort than interruptions that occur mid-action.¹ This supports the idea that interruption cost is not uniform, but highly sensitive to task structure and temporal context.

From a design perspective, this challenges the dominant notification model used in many smart devices and platforms, where interruption timing is driven by system priorities rather than user activity. Treating all moments as equally interruptible ignores how users mentally segment tasks and weakens recovery. Designing for interrupted experiences therefore requires an understanding of how users perceive time, progress, and task continuity.

Liikkanen and Gómez argue that interaction design actively shapes user’s experience of time, not just efficiency or usability.² Interfaces that fragment attention, accelerate pace or constantly reset context distort temporal experience and increase the subjective cost of interruption. This aligns with earlier discussions in my research on flow and recovery: interruptions are not only breaks in attention but breaks in temporal coherence.

Recent design research responds to this by shifting focus from preventing interruption to supporting attention. Monge Roffarello et al. introduce digital attention heuristics that prioritize continuity, predictability and cognitive respect in interface behavior.³ Rather than maximizing engagement, these heuristics aim to reduce unnecessary attentional demand and help users maintain control over their focus. This approach contrasts sharply with attention capture patterns identified in deceptive interface designs, where interruption is deliberately used to redirect behavior.⁴

Designing for interrupted experiences therefore has an ethical dimension. When interruption is used strategically to capture attention, it externalizes cognitive cost onto the user. In contrast, attention supportive design acknowledges limits, supports recovery and reduces friction. This distinction becomes particularly relevant in educational and blended environments, where users report feeling constantly interrupted yet unable to disengage from digital systems. Pattermann et al. show that students experience digital interruption as both disruptive and unavoidable, reinforcing the need for design strategies that support regulation rather than escalation.⁵

Several applied design approaches address this challenge directly. Rydén’s user-centered work on designing for distraction emphasizes understanding interruption from the user’s lived experience rather than abstract performance metrics.⁶ By mapping when, why and how users feel interrupted, designers can identify points where systems should step back rather than intervene. This aligns with earlier discussions in my research on polite and adaptive systems, where responsiveness replaces control.

Taken together, these studies suggest that designing for interrupted experiences means accepting interruption as inevitable but designing it’s consequences. This includes supporting recovery, preserving context, respecting task boundaries and also making attention visible as a shared responsibility between user and system.

As a concluding position, my research does not argue for interruption free design. Instead, it proposes a shift in design intent: from capturing attention to caring for it. Designing for the interrupted means designing systems that understand timing, support memory, respect emotional cost or help users return; not just react.

This framing of mine sets the foundation for future thesis work (hopefully) that explores interruption not as a usability flaw, but as a core interaction condition that demands deliberate, human-centered design responses.

References

  1. Adamczyk, P. D., & Bailey, B. P. (2004). If not now, when?: The effects of interruption at different moments within task execution. Proceedings of CHI 2004.
  2. Liikkanen, L. A., & Gómez, R. (2013). Designing interactive systems for the experience of time. Proceedings of CHI 2013.
  3. Monge Roffarello, A., et al. (2025). The digital attention heuristics: Supporting the user’s attention by design.
  4. Monge Roffarello, A., et al. (2023). Defining and identifying attention capture deceptive designs in digital interfaces.
  5. Pattermann, M., et al. (2022). Perceptions of digital device use and accompanying digital interruptions in blended learning.
  6. Rydén, J. (Year). Designing for the distracted: A user-centered approach to explore and act on the user experience of distraction.

    AI Assistance Disclaimer:
    AI tools were used at certain stages of the research process, primarily for source exploration, grammar refinement and structural editing. All conceptual development, analysis and final writing were made by the author.
by jessica.schiller -

Calm UX in AI-Driven Products

How Google’s and IBM’s AI Guidelines Help Reduce Cognitive Load

Artificial intelligence has become foundational in modern digital products, powering everything from search and recommendations to analytics and automation. But when AI is integrated carelessly, it doesn’t feel “helpful”, it feels unpredictable, opaque, or intrusive. That’s where Calm UX intersects directly with practical AI design.

To create AI experiences that feel reassuring rather than stressful, we need both behavioral guidelines and design patterns that embed calmness into interaction. Leading design frameworks from companies like Google and IBMarticulate such principles, explicitly tying usability, transparency, and control to trustworthy AI experiences.

Why Calm UX Matters in AI Systems

AI systems are fundamentally probabilistic, they make predictions, not certainties. Yet users instinctively seek clarity, control, and predictability when interacting with digital products. When an AI recommendation appears without context, or when a system acts before the user has given explicit consent, the interface can quickly feel noisy or demanding. The result is increased cognitive load: users must expend mental effort to interpret what the system did, why it did it, and whether they are still in control.

A familiar example is autocorrection. When it quietly suggests a word and allows the user to accept or ignore it, it feels helpful and unobtrusive. When it automatically replaces words without explanation or easy reversal, it creates friction, uncertainty, and frustration. The difference is not the intelligence of the system, but how its behavior is communicated and constrained.

Calm UX addresses this tension by deliberately reducing the mental work required to understand and manage AI behavior. It does so by:

  • clearly indicating when AI is active,
  • explaining why a suggestion or prediction is being made,
  • making it obvious how users can intervene, override, or undo an action,
  • and keeping AI signals in the periphery until the user chooses to engage.

This approach aligns closely with the core idea of Calm Technology: technology should inform without demanding attention. AI should participate quietly in the background, stepping into focus only when its input is meaningful, actionable, and invited.

How Google’s People + AI Guidebook Supports Calm UX

Google’s People + AI Guidebook provides a concrete set of principles and patterns for AI-enabled interfaces, emphasizing user understanding and control. Key patterns include:

1. Model Status and Confidence Indicators

Instead of presenting AI output as a definitive outcome, designers should surface confidence levels or uncertainty ranges (for example, “83% confidence”). Making uncertainty visible helps users better predict system behavior, build appropriate trust, and reduces anxiety when outcomes are not certain.

2. Recommendations with Rationale

AI suggestions should clearly communicate why they are offered. For example, by referencing past behavior or recent activity. Making this underlying logic visible provides essential context, reduces cognitive load, and helps avoid the “black box” effect that often undermines trust in AI systems.

3. Human-in-the-Loop Controls

Allowing users to accept, reject, edit, or refine AI suggestions keeps agency firmly with the user rather than with an opaque automated system. This sense of control builds confidence and reduces anxiety about unintended or irreversible outcomes.

Google’s guidance pitches these patterns not as optional add-ons but as core UX requirements when embedding AI into workflows, because clarity and control directly reduce cognitive demand.

IBM’s Approach to AI UX — Transparency, Trust, and Shared Agency

IBM’s AI design practice also emphasizes understanding and human-centered automation. Explainability helps users understand both the process and limitations of AI. In their guidelines, this approach is summarized in two key concepts:

1. Explainability as a UX Function

When systems articulate how and why they reached a specific conclusion—even at a high level—users can form a clear mental model of the AI’s behavior. This predictability reduces mental effort and helps prevent frustration caused by uncertainty.

2. Role Clarity Between User and AI

Users should always understand where human responsibility begins and where AI assistance ends. Clearly demarcating these boundaries in the interface minimizes anxiety by removing uncertainty about whether the system is acting autonomously or on the user’s behalf.

This emphasis echoes research suggesting that AI designers must address both model transparency and user understanding if they want trust and low friction in human-AI interaction.

Calm UX, Cognitive Load & Calm Technology

At its core, Calm UX in AI interfaces is about managing the mental effort users invest in understanding system behavior. It uses patterns that reduce ambiguity, promote transparency, and preserve control, all of which are directly supported by Google’s and IBM’s AI guidelines.

That alignment is not coincidental. Calm UX and Calm Technology principles converge around the same goal: Design systems that support human thinking — not overwhelm it.

When AI interfaces follow clear guidelines, from explainability to human-in-the-loop design, they become not just smarter, but calmer, more trustworthy, and easier to use.

References:
  • Weiser, M., Seely Brown, J. (1995): “Designing Calm Technology“, Xerox PARC
  • Weiser, M., Seely Brown, J. (1996): “The Coming Age of Calm Technology“, Xerox PARC
  • Case, A. (2015): “Calm Technology: Principles and Patterns for Non-Intrusive Design“
  • Google PAIR – People + AI Guidebook https://pair.withgoogle.com/guidebook/
  • IBM – Explainable AI Design Guidelines https://www.ibm.com/design/ai/

AI Assistance Disclaimer:

AI tools were used to improve grammar and phrasing. The ideas, examples, and content remain entirely the author’s own.

by artun.sepken -

Interruption in Smart Devices and Social Media

As I also mentioned in some of my previous posts, Interruptions in digital systems are no longer limited to isolated notification events. In smart devices and social media platforms, interruption has become a persistent interaction condition shaped by continuous connectivity, algorithmic attention capture and social expectations. Rather than being occasional disruptions, interruptions are increasingly embedded into everyday interaction flows, influencing how users relocate their attention and switch tasks while using it.

Research on social media distraction consistently shows that interruptions operate through both external and internal mechanisms. External interruptions include notifications, alerts, and interface prompts, while internal interruptions emerge as urges, thoughts or habitual checking behaviors triggered by platform design.1 This distinction is important for interaction design, as it shifts the problem from simply “reducing notifications” toward understanding how interfaces create conditions that sustain attentional vulnerability even in the absence of explicit prompts.

Several studies demonstrate that social media interruptions negatively affect task performance and cognitive efficiency. Experimental work by Marotta and Acquisti5 shows that even brief social media interruptions can reduce performance on cognitively demanding tasks, particularly when users resume work without structural support. Similarly, Okoshi et al.6 found that frequent smartphone notifications increase cognitive load and disrupt task continuity, reinforcing the idea that interruption cost is cumulative rather than momentary.

At the same time, interruptions persist because they fulfill social and psychological needs. Koessmeier and Büttner1 identify social connection and fear of missing out as central drivers of social media distraction, alongside task avoidance and self-regulation failure. This aligns with findings from Tams et al.7, who show that restricting smartphone access can increase stress and social threat perceptions, suggesting that interruption is not only a usability issue but also an affective and relational one. From an HCI perspective, this reinforces the idea that interruptions cannot be evaluated solely in terms of efficiency loss.

Smart devices makes this dynamic more intense by extending interruption beyond the smartphone. Wearables, smart assistants and ambient displays introduce new channels through which attention can be captured or fragmented. Light and Cassidy3 frame this condition as one where disconnection itself becomes a socially and economically charged act, making uninterrupted interaction increasingly difficult to sustain. In such environments, interruption becomes a structural property of interaction ecosystems rather than a design flaw in a single interface.

Recent work has begin to explore design interventions that do not simply suppress interruptions but reshape how and when they occur. Weber et al.8 examine user-defined notification delay, showing that allowing users to postpone interruptions can reduce perceived disruption without eliminating access to information. Okoshi et al.’s Attelia6 system similarly demonstrates that context-aware notification management can lower cognitive load by aligning interruptions with moments of lower demand.

More recent approaches focus on changing attention capture patterns at a system level. Some researchers introduce the concept of “Purpose Mode,” which reduces distraction by altering how social media interfaces surface content during goal-directed activities. Rather than blocking access, such systems attempt to weaken damaging attention loops while preserving user groups. This reflects a broader shift away from binary solutions toward adaptive interaction strategies.

Taken all together, these studies suggest that interruption in smart devices and social media should be understood as a “design tradeoff” rather than a problem to be eliminated. Interruptions support connection, awareness and engagement but they also fragment attention and increase cognitive strain. The challenge for interaction design is not to remove interruptions, but to shape them in ways that respect user capacity, context, and recovery.

This positions interruption as a central concern for contemporary interaction design. As smart devices and social platforms increasingly mediate everyday activity, designers must consider how systems distribute attention over time, how interruptions accumulate, and how users regain control after disruption. Rather than asking how to stop interruption, the more productive question becomes how to design interactions that acknowledge interruption as an inevitable condition and respond to it responsibly.

References

  1. Koessmeier, C., & Büttner, O. B. (2021). Why are we distracted by social media? Distraction situations and strategies, reasons for distraction, and individual differences. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 711416.
    https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.711416
  2. Lee, M., et al. (2025). Purpose Mode: Reducing distraction through toggling attention capture damaging patterns on social media.
  3. Light, A., & Cassidy, E. (2014). Strategies for the suspension and prevention of connection: Rendering disconnection as socioeconomic practice.
  4. Liu, Y. (Year). The attention crisis of digital interfaces and how to consume media more mindfully.
  5. Marotta, V., & Acquisti, A. (2018). Interrupting interruptions: A digital experiment on social media and performance.
  6. Okoshi, T., et al. (2015). Attelia: Reducing users’ cognitive load due to interruptive notifications on smartphones.
  7. Tams, S., et al. (2018). Smartphone withdrawal creates stress: A moderated mediation model of nomophobia, social threat, and stress.
  8. Weber, F., et al. (2018). Snooze! Investigating the user-defined deferral of mobile notifications.

AI Assistance Disclaimer:
AI tools were used at certain stages of the research process, primarily for source exploration, grammar refinement and structural editing. All conceptual development, analysis and final writing were made by the author.

by artun.sepken -

Memory and Recovery: Designing for Resumption After Interruption

Up to this point, my research has focused on how interruptions disrupt attention and flow. However, interruptions do not end when the disruption occurs. What follows (the process of resuming a task) is often where the real cost appears. This brings memory into focus, not as a cognitive abstraction, but as a practical interaction design concern.

When a user is interrupted, they do not simply return to where they left off. They must remember what they were doing, why they were doing it and what the next step was supposed to be. This resumption process relies on short-term memory, contextual cues and sometimes an external support from the interface. If these elements are weak or missing, recovery becomes slow, error-prone and frustrating.

Research on memory for goals shows that interrupted tasks remain mentally active, but their activation decays over time. The longer and more demanding the interruption, the harder it becomes to recall the original goal state. From an interaction design perspective, this can mean that poor recovery is not a user failure but a predictable outcome of how memory works under interruption.

This is where I think interface design plays a critical role. Interfaces can either support memory during recovery or actively work against it. Continuous feeds, disappearing context and forced state changes increase the cognitive effort required to resume the task. In contrast, stable visual cues, persistent task states and meaningful markers can act as external memory aids, reducing the mental burden placed on the user.

Several studies on interruption recovery that I have examined show that even small cues; such as highlighting the last action, preserving task structure or offering lightweight reminders, can significantly improve resumption performance. These cues do not need to explain everything. Their value lies in reactivating the user’s memory by reconnecting them with the task context they previously constructed.

From a UX perspective, this reframes memory as an interaction problem rather than an internal process. Memory is distributed across the user and the interface. When interfaces erase context, reorder information or prioritize immediacy over continuity, they shift the entire recovery burden onto the user. This is especially visible in environments shaped by constant notifications, multitasking, and fragmented attention.

Design research on memory supplementation further supports this view. Instead of assuming users will remember, these approaches treat the interface as a partner in recall. By externalizing task state, progress and reasoning traces, systems can support problem solving and reduce the cost of interruption. This does not mean eliminating interruptions but designing for their aftermath.

There is also a temporal part to memory and recovery. Fast systems are often optimized for immediate response, not for long-term comprehension. However, memory formation and recall require time, repetition and moments of reflection. Interfaces that constantly refresh, replace, or overwrite information sometimes undermine these processes. In this sense, recovery is not only about returning to a task but about preserving meaning over time.

Seen through this lens, memory and recovery become central to interaction design in interrupted environments. The question shifts from “How do we prevent interruptions?” to “How do we help users return?” Designing for recovery means acknowledging that interruption is inevitable but disorientation does not have to be.

My research positions memory not as a background cognitive function, but as a design material. If interaction design shapes how users remember, forget and resume, then recovery is not a side effect, it is a responsibility. This perspective directly informs the next stage of my research, which moves toward designing explicitly for interrupted experiences.

References

Altmann, E. M., & Trafton, J. G. (2002). Memory for goals: An activation-based model. Cognitive Science, 26(1), 39–83.

Bruya, B., & Tang, Y. Y. (2018). Is attention really effort? Revisiting Daniel Kahneman’s influential 1973 book Attention and Effort. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1133.

Chen, X., Li, Z., & Wang, Y. (2025). The effects of cues on task interruption recovery in a concurrent multitasking environment. International Journal of Human–Computer Studies.

Yang, S. (2019). UX design for memory supplementation to support problem-solving tasks in analytic applications (Master’s thesis).

Zannoni, M., & Pollini, A. (2022). Are memories an interaction design problem? PAD Pages on Arts and Design, 15(23).

AI Assistance Disclaimer:
AI tools were used at certain stages of the research process, primarily for source exploration, grammar refinement and structural editing. All conceptual development, analysis and final writing were made by the author.

by jessica.schiller -

Application of calm technology principles in Digital Product Design

Many digital products today are technically well designed. They pass usability tests, follow established patterns, and allow users to complete tasks efficiently. And yet, they still feel stressful to use. This tension points to a common misunderstanding in UX:

Usability alone does not guarantee a calm experience (Calm UX).

What users often struggle with is not failure, but mental strain — the quiet effort required to interpret, decide, remember, and stay oriented while interacting with an interface.

Cognitive Load Is the Invisible Friction

I realized that a key driver of user stress is cognitive load: the amount of mental effort required to process information and make decisions. Human working memory is limited. When interfaces demand too much attention, comparison, recall, or interpretation, users become fatigued and error-prone — even if nothing is technically “broken”.

Research by Nielsen Norman Group shows that cognitive load increases when users are forced to:

  • hold information in memory instead of recognizing it
  • make too many decisions at once
  • decode unclear labels or system states
  • recover from interruptions without guidance

Reducing cognitive load is not about removing functionality. It’s about removing unnecessary mental work.

Calm UX Goes Beyond Usability

Calm UX builds on classic usability principles but extends them into the emotional and psychological domain. As described in recent UX research and writing, calm experiences are those that reduce anxiety, uncertainty, and hesitation, especially in moments where users are unsure what the system is doing or what is expected of them.

According to UXmatters, much of the most damaging friction in digital products is not physical or functional, but psychological. Interfaces that rush users, provide ambiguous feedback, or escalate situations unnecessarily create stress — even when users ultimately succeed.

Calm UX asks different questions than traditional UX:

  • Do users feel in control?
  • Does the system behave predictably?
  • Is uncertainty acknowledged or ignored?
  • Does the interface reassure, or does it pressure?

Design Principles That Create Calm

Research from NN/g, UXmatters, and Calm Technology literature points to a small set of recurring principles that consistently reduce cognitive strain and user anxiety.

Minimize cognitive effort by default
Calm interfaces prioritize recognition over recall, limit information to what is immediately relevant, and use familiar, consistent patterns. Clear visual hierarchy and progressive disclosure help users stay oriented without unnecessary mental effort.

Communicate with clarity, not urgency
System messages are emotionally charged moments. Calm UX avoids alarmist language and explains what happened, why it matters, and what comes next—without blame, pressure, or artificial urgency.

Make system behavior visible
Uncertainty increases stress. Loading states, background processes, and validations should clearly communicate progress and outcomes, even when no action is required from the user.

Respect attention as a scarce resource
Notifications should interrupt only when they provide clear, timely value. Calm UX is quiet by default and intentional when asking for attention.

Introduce complexity gradually
Complex systems don’t need to feel complex upfront. Calm UX reveals detail only as it becomes relevant, reducing initial overwhelm and supporting user confidence.

These principles are not new rules. They are a reframing of established UX heuristics through the lens of Calm Technology—shifting the focus from efficiency alone to cognitive and emotional ease.

Design Patterns That Create Calm

In practice, these principles materialize through a set of recurring design patterns that can be used as tools to create calmer products.

Progressive Disclosure
Calm UX avoids presenting all information and options at once. Instead, complexity is revealed gradually, as it becomes relevant. This helps users orient themselves quickly and reduces initial cognitive load, especially in complex systems.

Recognition Over Recall
Rather than relying on users’ memory, calm interfaces surface choices, defaults, examples, and familiar patterns directly in the UI. This reduces mental effort and minimizes the anxiety that comes from uncertainty or second-guessing.

Visible System Status
Calm UX avoids silent systems. Loading states, background processes, and validation feedback clearly communicate what is happening and what to expect next, even when no action is required from the user.

Gentle Confirmation
Success and completion are communicated through subtle, inline feedback instead of disruptive modal dialogs. This reassures users without interrupting their flow or escalating the interaction unnecessarily.

Forgiving Interactions
Undo options, editable states, and non-destructive defaults make mistakes recoverable. When users know they can correct an action, they interact with greater confidence and less hesitation.

Predictable Interaction Patterns
Consistent layouts, control placement, and feedback behavior reduce the mental effort required to re-orient across screens. Calm interfaces prioritize familiarity over novelty.

Descriptive Microcopy
Clear, outcome-focused language replaces vague labels and technical jargon. Users understand what will happen before they act, reducing hesitation and cognitive strain.

Status Over Alerts
Whenever possible, calm systems communicate information through passive status indicators rather than interruptive alerts. Information remains available without demanding immediate attention.

Notification Gating
Notifications are used sparingly and intentionally. Calm UX is quiet by default and interrupts only when timely user action truly matters, treating attention as a limited resource.

Clear Exit Paths
Users can cancel, go back, or pause processes at any time. Knowing there is always a way out significantly reduces pressure and perceived risk.

Together, these patterns don’t eliminate complexity — they structure it, pace it, and communicate it with care. They shift UX from demanding attention to supporting orientation, from pushing users forward to helping them stay grounded.

As digital products increasingly incorporate AI-driven predictions, recommendations, and automation, these patterns become even more critical. When systems begin acting on users’ behalf, clarity, control, and calm are no longer optional — they are the foundation of trust. In the next article, I’ll explore how Calm UX principles apply specifically to AI-driven products, and how thoughtful design can make intelligent systems feel supportive rather than intrusive.

References:
  • Weiser, M., Seely Brown, J. (1995): “Designing Calm Technology“, Xerox PARC
  • Weiser, M., Seely Brown, J. (1996): “The Coming Age of Calm Technology“, Xerox PARC
  • Case, A. (2015): “Calm Technology: Principles and Patterns for Non-Intrusive Design“

AI Assistance Disclaimer:

AI tools were used to improve grammar and phrasing. The ideas, examples, and content remain entirely the author’s own.