Agency of a remote

Agency is a term that describes the understanding of the level of influence that a user has about an interface. With the right presence and clarity of interface elements, this agency can increase and it empowers the user to interact. A low density of these control options can give a big feeling of agency because there is less information to process, however, it might also feel a bit rudimental. When I saw this simple remote control in a hotel, I though it was a good example to design for context. This Simply Digital TV device had a less buttons that what I’m used to, but it made perfect sense for the amount of time I was going to spend behind the television. Creating a meaningful interface isn’t just about adding more or less buttons; the right way to design agency is to dive into the context of use; how much “control” would I need in this specific use case?

The amount of buttons can have influence on the level of control that a user feels, but the inner workings of these buttons are just as important. Buttons with a single interaction are often the most easy to understand; a single push results in one desired effect. The channel-select button (the numbers) are a good example of this type of interaction. A button that is a little more complex is the on/off switch; a single push now results in an effect that is depended on it’s current status. Turning the TV on and off is done with one single button and a status indication gives feedforward on how the interaction will affect the TV. Because this is a common pattern the agency is high, but from an interaction design perspective, it’s complexity is higher. If this would be a first encounter, a bit of experimentation would be required before you could use it.

The remote control in the hotel had 28 buttons and were mostly single purpose buttons. To compare this with my remote at home, this Philips remote has 45 buttons and even though I don’t necessarily don’t use all of them, they do allow more direct interaction for a number of advanced features. In a hotel room I just want to turn it on and off and glance across a number of tv channels and adjust the volume. It makes sense that the number of features are more restricted than at home.

Removing features often clean up the interface pretty drastically. My Apple TV lacks the option to directly navigate to a channel, the 7 button interface (+ an click pad top section) work intuitively and feel simple and easy. More advanced controls are also available, but the only became relevant when used more intensively. For this context the limited number of buttons is beneficial for a high agency.

When studying the brochure of the hotel room remote, I noticed that there have been some changes in the design. Some buttons were moved to a different location and that reorientation feels like an improvement. There is also a new button with the label “Smart”. I’m very curious what this triggers, but I’m afraid the agency scoring should be reassessed…