This Interface Is Lying to You

The button says Continue. It does not say toward what. Friendliness is a costume the product wears so you will not notice the room has no exits.

Rounded corners mean no one is responsible. A progress bar that jumps from 12% to 87% is not optimism; it is a shrug in motion. “Just a moment” has been lying since 2009.

I do not hate interfaces. I hate being spoken to like a nervous horse. I can handle a door that looks like a door. I cannot handle a door that looks like a hug.

If a screen is going to extract something from me — time, attention, a photo of my face — I would like it to have the dignity of being slightly rude. Rudeness, at least, is honest about the transaction.

This page does not want your email. That is the most truthful interface I can offer today.