Calm Tech Institute

? We're excited announce the launch of Calm Tech Certified?, a new certification program from the Calm Tech Institute! The certification is a seal of approval for products that best respect our time, attention, and humanity. ? Calm Tech Certified? utilizes a 81 point specification process that?ranks products on their use of attention, periphery, robustness, light, sound and materials. To help inaugurate Calm Tech Certified?, we've awarded certifications to a select group of products that satisfy the standard. Congratulations to Airthings View Plus, Daylight Computer Co.'s Daylight Computer I, Time Timer's Time Time MOD HOME, and Unpluq's Unpluq Tag + Premium Subscription! Thank you all for supporting the Calm Tech Institute as it launches and grows! Read more about Calm Tech Certified? on the Calm Tech Institute website: https://lnkd.in/gwXKUEC6 If you want to enter a product into our certification program, please get in touch! #calmtech #attention #design #calmtechcertified #productdesign

We have seen a noticeable decline in design resilience in the smartphone era, even within the largest, most respected companies. Just because the iPhone itself is well-designed does not mean every app on it gets to bask in that halo. Read Part 3 in our new series on the Calm Tech Institute certification categories below! We covered Attention and Peripheral Attention in Part 1 and 2, and will go on to Light, Sound and Materials in later posts. Part 3: Designing Products for Resilience & Graceful Failure https://lnkd.in/g7DC_bAa Read the rest of this series: Part 1: When 10 Seconds Means 23 Minutes: The Attention Costs of Bad Design https://lnkd.in/gbTiTC6z Part 2: Your Hands Have Eyes, Too! Engaging Peripheral Attention https://lnkd.in/gt8n_RvU #calmtech

Our hands possess an extraordinary capacity for peripheral information processing that rivals and in many ways surpasses our visual system. While touch may not process more raw information than vision, it does provide unique and crucial information about our environment. Each fingertip contains thousands of mechanoreceptors of different types, each specializing in detecting specific kinds of tactile information. These receptors work together to process multiple streams of information simultaneously, all while operating below the threshold of conscious attention. Designs that utilize touch can allow for action that don't need to be focused on directly. The sophistication of this kind of tactile processing becomes further evident when we consider how much information our hands can process simultaneously.?For example, our hands constantly read subtle variations in steering wheel resistance, road and wind conditions -- all while this information remains in our peripheral awareness until something requires our attention. Modern interface design often fails to utilize this rich tactile processing capability. Flat touchscreens and buttonless interfaces eliminate the texture, resistance, and positional feedback that our hands are equipped to process. This forces users to rely more heavily on visual attention, creating additional cognitive load and reducing our ability to operate devices peripherally. Read the rest of the post below (part 2 in a series). #calmtech

When 10 Seconds Means 23 Minutes: The Attention Costs of Bad Design "With all of these shiny features and a hard-to-read display, it takes a good 10-15 seconds of my focus to figure out how to adjust?the temperature. It's not that the interface is impossible to figure out, it just takes time. I have to decipher the controls, map them to my hands, and then change the settings appropriately. The same part of my mind that was being used for the my legal document gets swapped out for the complexities of the heater system, and I’ve lost my focus.?" A new article in a 6 part series on the categories of Calm Tech Certification categories: Attention, Periphery, Robustness, Light, Sound and Materials.

The January Calm Tech Institute Newsletter is out! This year is off to a big start. ?? In This Issue: ? Calm Tech Institute featured in WIRED JAPAN?and IEEE Spectrum! ? Amber explores CES 2025 – and finds some new tech gems! ? CTI podcast appearances? ? Upcoming Events, Dates & Travel

We're thrilled to announce that the reMarkable Paper Pro is officially Calm Tech Certified?! Paper Pro scored one of the very highest ratings on our 81+ point review process. To highlight some features that resonate most with Calm Tech principles: Digital e-ink: Makes it possible to use the Paper Pro in a night without disrupting natural circadian rhythms. Focus mode: Press one button, and the entirety of the Paper Pro user interface goes away, so you can simply be in your project. Paper-like feel: The benefits of both digital and physical paper, combined in one. All these features and more make reMarkable a digital tablet that not only improves productivity and creative work, but is also an ideal enhancement to overall well-being. We're excited about the future of reMarkable and looking forward to seeing what they do in the future! Read more about the review here: https://lnkd.in/gHrszxwQ #calmtech #calmtechcertified #attention #technology

Calm Tech Institute founder Amber Case just finished a podcast about Calm Technology with Adam Yasmin! Listen to it here (with video!) https://lnkd.in/gmiGm7vg Or Spotify: https://lnkd.in/dAnHZfSB Apple: https://lnkd.in/dDWT9Mrg #calm #calmtech #tech #podcast #philosophy #history

CTI's Founder Amber Case was on Adam Yasmin's upcoming podcast! We're looking forward to sharing the full podcast tomorrow! #calmtech

Calm Tech Institute is in Oslo, Norway! Today Amber Case visited Airthings!

? Calm Tech Institute, November Edition is out! ? In This Issue: ?? Calm Tech Certified? program announced! ?? The first Calm Tech Certified? products ?? Calm Tech Institute visits Kyoto! ?? Upcoming events ?? Further reading