The Machine That Goes Ping
By Yoel Frischoff
How to communicate product value through design signals, interface cues, and user experience elements that build trust and convey advanced capabilities in intuitive ways
The previous chapter traced how interfaces give users increasing control over active products. But what about products whose normal state is silence — whose job is to do nothing until the moment they are needed?
Let us consider a specific category of products: standby products. These are the quiet components that sit inside larger systems, under tables, or deep in remote racks. Their defining trait is simple: they do nothing for years at a time. Yet when they are finally called upon, they must not fail. What kind of user interface should they be provided with?
