Interaction Design for Monsters
I worked for a consultancy for a few years, and each Halloween I would lead the creation of some spooky-fun posts for its blog. That consultancy is now gone, and the company that purchased it deleted those posts because, I don’t know, *gestures vaguely at corporations*. But, due to the magic of the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, I have managed to recover them, and save them here for posterity, because they are awesome. [Note: The Internet Archive is an important resource that is fighting for its life. Consider donating.]
One year we developed personas for monsters. The next year I got the teams to develop designs for those monsters. They have been combined into a single post below.
Shouts out to the collection of authors: Myself, Jenea Hayes, Stefan Klocek, Andreas Braendhaugen, Jim Dibble, Greg Schuler, Golden Krishna, and Patrick Keenan.
The Persona: Metansiptah, Vengeful Mummy
Metansiptah was not a well-liked ruler. He was poisoned by his Chief of the Scented Oils during his morning ablutions with a paste of arsenic trioxide. The priest reciting his Book of the Dead prayers skipped several spells in order to trap Metansiptah’s soul within his mummified remains. His tomb builder placed the correct curses against disturbance, but then left deliberate clues to the location of its entrance. For the past three thousand years, Metansiptah has been awakened from his unending twilight every few decades by the greedy and the foolhardy.
How we can help Metansiptah
- Accommodate extended Unicode
- Use “magical” interaction metaphors to match his Middle Kingdom mental model
- Don’t expect speed
- Utilize ubiquitous, location-aware technology to aid his hunt
- Metansiptah has plenty of time, so err on the side of information clarity rather than density
The Design: Vengeance Buddy
As Halloween approaches, and the veil between worlds grows wan, threadbare, and permeable, we turns our collective attention to the spirit, spook, and creature population. Last year we sought to understand them from a Goal-Directed perspective. This year we take the next unholy step and design software, devices, and services around these personas. Today we return to Metansiptah, Vengeful Mummy.
Ordinarily, we’d have qualms about helping someone with such a violent agenda. But his heart scarab was stolen by grave robbers (OK, fine, “archaeologists,” whatever) so really, they’ve got what’s coming to them.
Metansiptah is our oldest persona. His mental model can’t account for technology beyond simple machines, and is built around a paradigm of myth and magic. Fortunately, there are a lot of cutting-edge technology options that might be indistinguishable to him from myth. With that in mind, we’re pleased to share the Vengeance Buddy.
Designer’s Notes
The Vengeance Buddy is a device that hangs around the neck of the terrible malefactor. It’s built with the SixthSense wearable gestural interface and projector, augmented with a smart phone (for cellular internet connectivity, compass chip, and GPS sensor). It will all be powered by the latest in rage-recharged batteries. Using this set of components, we can project in-context wayfinding hieroglyphs on the walls and floor around him for directions, in-place translations of the strange, broken-stick lettering of the Western world, as well as real-time 3D renderings of virtual subservient slaves to whom he can rasp his horrific orders. These spoken commands will be interpreted by voice recognition technology and carried out by the system.
To track the insolent wrongdoers, we’re going to partner with data mining experts to create algorithms that scour social media feeds and public data streams for signs of their whereabouts. Oh, we’ll know where they are. They can’t hide. None of us can.
And, since the Vengeance Buddy won’t be cheap, we’ve partnered with The Learning Channel, who will have exclusive rights to turn the video feeds of Metansiptah’s worn cameras into a live-action reality TV show. Look for their upcoming website and mobile app, that will let fans help snitch on the grave robbers, vote for their favorite deaths, know when he’s about to make a local appearance in his long, blood-slicked journey of revenge, and find the nearest hospitals after they come into contact with the star of the show!
Why it this design awesome for Metanipsah?
- He doesn’t have to understand technology. He understands Middle Egyptian. He understands slaves. He understands the soothing comfort of the death rattles issuing forth from the choked throats of his dying foes. And really, that’s all he needs to know.
- It moves with him. He’ll be traveling for most of his undeath: From the Necropolis, between each grisly murder, and then home again. He doesn’t want something in his hands that whole time.
- We take advantage of the wisdom of the crowd. People love horror movies and people love good reality TV. Who could resist the combination? Giving fans a way to participate will cinch the ratings and augment where computerized systems leave off.
Alexi Devers: Lycanthrope
While recently on a solo full-moon hike of the Samaria Gorge in Greece, Alexi thought he escaped a pack of wild dogs with only a few scratches. That next week he returned to Athens where he and his girlfriend Debbie are studying abroad. Three weeks later he’s discovered they weren’t dogs, he got more than scratches, and he has much more serious problems than his upcoming finals.
How we can help Alexi:
- Make calendar alerts find him wherever he is — and don’t let him hit snooze.
- Outfit his smart phone with a snug-fitting strap that can handle a variety of shapes and kinds of movement, made of a material that can be easily cleaned.
- Provide map directions home that find an optimal path which avoids being seen.
- Connect him with like-minded others across the globe with easy access to ancient mystical texts and automatic language translation.
WereSafe
[Note: The WereSafe writeups and their images were lost to the Internet Archive, and have been reimagined here.]
WereSafe is the premier safety solution for lycanthropes like Alexi Devers, offering unmatched peace of mind during the full moon cycle. With its state-of-the-art technology, WereSafe ensures that users are automatically guided to specially designed, fortified safe rooms when transformation is imminent. These rooms are equipped to handle the unique needs of werewolves, providing security and comfort throughout the night. Upon waking, users are greeted with fresh clothing and a satisfying breakfast, allowing them to seamlessly transition back into daily life.
What makes WereSafe truly extraordinary is its ability to combine personal safety with complete discretion. Leveraging biometric tracking and location services, WereSafe discreetly guides Alexi to the closest secure room using optimized routes that avoid public exposure. No need to worry about missed alerts or manual inputs — WereSafe tracks his location and condition in real time, ensuring he’s always in the right place at the right time. It’s a service designed to work effortlessly, allowing users to maintain their normal lives without the looming fear of their transformations.
But WereSafe’s capabilities go even further. Using cutting-edge behavioral algorithms, the service helps users not only manage their transformations but optimize them. WereSafe subtly adapts to each lycanthrope’s behavior, creating an environment that promotes smoother, more controlled transformations. Users may find that each full moon brings a greater sense of power and focus, as WereSafe fine-tunes their experience with every cycle. It’s more than just a safety service — it’s a system that shapes the potential of each werewolf.
And for those with a keen eye for opportunity, WereSafe offers more than just safety — it provides a unique investment in powerful, remorseless assets. By leveraging its sophisticated technology, WereSafe ensures that its lycanthropic users are not just protected, but also fully manageable during their transformation time. Investors looking to maximize the ROI of these formidable creatures will find that WereSafe’s service not only keeps werewolves in check but positions them for controlled, efficient use during the limited time they are “under management.” With WereSafe, we’re not just ensuring safety — we’re providing access to powerful assets that will supernaturally forget every awful thing they were controlled to do.
Designer’s Notes
WereSafe is designed with precision and foresight, making it the most advanced service for lycanthrope safety on the market. Every aspect of the user experience, from the discreet notifications to the optimized safe rooms, has been meticulously crafted to protect and empower users.
The dark side is of course that capitalism is gonna capitalize. The ability to manage these powerful creatures opens up new avenues for unscrupulous strategic use. WereSafe’s advanced control systems ensure that werewolves remain compliant and focused, making them an exploitable asset during the short window of their transformations.
Why WereSafe is Awesome for Alexi
- Provides seamless, real-time safety and comfort during every full moon.
- Discreetly guides him to secure safe rooms via optimized routes, avoiding public exposure.
- Helps him harness greater control and power with each transformation, through adaptive behavioral algorithms.
- Just watch out for those Terms of Service, Alexi.
Antone and Vladimir: Modern vampires
Antone grew up in southern Louisiana in the late 1700s, the son of a wealthy landowner. After his childhood sweetheart died, he gave up all hope for life. He told his troubles to a young gentleman who came through town, who promised him an end to Antone’s misery. Instead, he was turned to a vampire, and forced to live a life of eternal suffering, unable to visit his family ever again. Today he broods away his evenings in his family’s decaying plantation.
Challenges with technology:
- Preferring the quill and ink of his childhood, Antone has never gotten the knack of using a keyboard.
How we can help Antone:
- Provide a social interface for finding like-minded souls
- Offer an intuitive interface that does not require calls to tech support (he can’t really call during normal business hours)
- Automatic alerts when his loved ones are in harm’s way
Vladimir Korzha, bloodthirsty bat
Vladimir, known as “Vlad” to his vampire offspring, grew up as a Romanian prince in the early 1400’s. After the tragic killing of his entire family by vengeful serfs, he vowed to devote his life to avenge their death. Vlad was turned to a vampire by a Romani witch during one of his bloody killing sprees. He was thrilled when he realized that his new powers would allow him to continue his killing spree through time immemorial. Today he works as a night watchman in a hospital.
Challenges with technology:
- Vlad gives in to his passions quickly, which takes him away from technology. Any interface must offer quick hits and just-in-time, glanceable information.
How we can help Vladimir:
- Provide a locational interface for locating “willing” prey
- Offer a non-reflective screen, so his co-workers will not realize he has no reflection
- A small, portable interface that fits underwing and works in low light conditions
Genotone: An exposé on a sinister VC business model
Antone grew up in southern Louisiana in the late 1700s, the son of a wealthy landowner. After his childhood sweetheart died, he gave up all hope for life. He told his troubles to a young gentleman who came through town, who promised him an end to Antone’s misery. Instead, he was turned to a vampire, and forced to live a life of eternal suffering, unable to visit his family ever again. Today he broods away his evenings in his family’s decaying plantation.
Vladimir, known as “Vlad” to his vampire offspring, grew up as a Romanian prince in the early 1400’s. After the tragic killing of his entire family by vengeful serfs, he vowed to devote his life to avenge their death. Vlad was turned to a vampire by a Romani witch during one of his bloody killing sprees. He was thrilled when he realized that his new powers would allow him to continue his killing spree through time immemorial. Today he works as a night watchman in a hospital.
The Plight of the Vampire
Both Antone and Vladimir, our modern vampires, have a goal to keep track of ancestry. Antone found penance in protecting his human family from afar. Over time, this protection ranged from just his immediate loved ones to further and future cousins. Vladmir on the other hand has devoted his life to vengeance upon the lineage of marauding serfs hailing from his Romanian hometown.
Our Shocking Discovery
There are many reasons for looking into your personal Genome; hereditary predisposition to medical conditions, personal interest in genetic lineage, participation in the advancement of science. However, we’ve recently uncovered some pitch material revealing a deeper plot behind an interconnected world of genomics: vengeance and stewardship.
While on a typical ethnographic expedition to a derelict housing development to gather empirical evidence for our two vampiric personas, we stumbled upon a pile of blank pages. Being conscious not to overlook potential insights we took the paper back to the studio. Only after a late night of work did we realize that those blank pages actually unveiled a deeper script of the plot behind genomics.
A Hidden Offering
Marketed to humans, Genome is a seamless and free genome testing service, with a complementary smartphone app and testing device. Simply insert the needle into your headphone jack, then prick your finger to register your genome. You’ll be presented with your full family history, genetic predispositions, and optionally entered into a scientific research database.
What most humans don’t realize is that after that initial prick of the needle, a unique ringtone (Getone) is broadcast from your smarter-than-you smartphone. This humanly-inaudible tone can be heard by vampirous bats via sonar. Whether you’re like Antone the protector or Vladmir the vengeful, you’ll be able to keep close watch on your kin and prey.
As a classic multi-sided market, the human consumer is getting something for free while that very consumer is being sold to a paying customer. Sounds familiar? Next time you’re searching your own ancestry, just watch out for those vengeful souls.
Journalists’ Notes
While the exposé journalists did not design this ecosystem of services and applications, we can appreciate the thinking that went into these offerings.
- Breaking Even: Because traditional VCs expect results in a short timeframe (typically 5–7 years), many rush to achieve quick growth through paid user acquisition and marketing gimmicks. A traditional Vampire Capitalist however lives at least a millennium, so return on investment can be delayed for a couple hundred years. What this allows for is a design that improves over time, where value can be captured only when it is created. We suspect that this incredibly long-range financial revenue model may be common among Vampires Capitalists; we can’t say for sure, but it seems the Bay Area may be a haven for these types.
- Timeframe of Use: The human experience of ancestry lasts but only for a fleeting moment. Vampires live lives orders of magnitude longer than ours. As such, their interface has to remain relevant over time. Try fitting in a to-do list stretching hundreds of years on a mobile screen; now you know the real story behind the expanded screen size of the iPhone 5.
- Custom Sonar Tone: As a bat, the wonders of the opposable thumb are lost. Sonar however is a gift to the blind rats of the sky. A custom ring tone, offers both a method of navigation, and a compelling case for paid subscriptions. After all, you want to be able to locate your prey regardless of your present corporeal form.
- Behavior Modification: We’re well aware of the line that’s crossed in affording Vladimir his vengeance upon a whole gene line. Though aghast, we do appreciate the encouragement given to those vampires who choose to protect rather than ravage. It seems the reward points are skewed toward pity on us mere mortals after all.
Emily Lashinger, just bitten
Emily received a zombie bite during the struggle as her small band of humans attempted to relocate from a boarded-up restaurant to a more easily-defended former mental asylum.
Since then she has felt the inevitable progression of zombification. She has worked hard to keep the infection a secret from the other humans, especially her younger brother who is barely holding on emotionally as it is. She knows her brother won’t have the strength to kill her once she has become fully zombie, so she knows suicide is her kindest option. But she can’t help but hold out hope that somehow, some way, her life will be spared.
How we can help Emily Lashinger:
- Help her monitor trending and critical biometrics during her descent into zombism.
- Keep her (and any of her fellow survivors) updated of any advancements towards the cure
- If a cure is not found or accessible, provide a clear indication of the appropriate moment to turn to suicide
- If she hits “snooze” on suicide, alert the other survivors privately.
iZombie? A zombie self-diagnosis and self-destruction app
Emily is in trouble. She narrowly escaped a horde of flesh eating zombies, but was bitten in the process. Now she’s suffering under the gradual onset of zombification — cognitive decline, neurodegeneration, loss of motor control, and an increased apetite for delicious, raw, human flesh. She wants to stave off zombiism as long as she can, but she knows that once she’s crossed a threshold, she will succumb and attempt to kill her friends and eat her family. What can she do? Enter iZombie?, an app made specifically for zombie-virus-infected humans, distributed by the military for free to all civilians at the first sign of the inevitable plague.
Features
- CDC notification system. As progress at the CDC continues, iZombie? feeds Emily information about its development of the zombie cure, as well as tips and tricks towards managing the onset of the illness.
- Self-diagnostics. Every six hours, iZombie? prompts Emily to run a zombification test using the phone’s camera. The app measures the redness in Emily’s eyes, and issues a quick hand-to-eye coordination test. A score tells her how long she has before the zombie virus has taken complete control of her brain. Biometric identification ensures that uninfected people can’t accidentally pick up the phone and perform the test for her. She’s given warnings, but if she doesn’t take the test, iZombie? reports her picture and whereabouts to the local authorities.
- Warning to friends and family. If Emily fails her iZombie? tests, a warning is sent out to nearby friends and family via SMS and video messaging, urging them to stay away from her. This way, they won’t have to kill her in self-defense, which avoids unnecessary trauma.
- Self-destruction dongle. iZombie? comes with a handy dongle containing precision-blast plastic C-4 explosives that detonate when Emily fails the test, destroying her brain with a carefully targeted micro-explosion. iZombie? emits a loud warning and countdown before exploding, giving nearby humans clear warning of the change, enough time to get out of the way, and Emily a few loud seconds to make her peace with the world.
Designer’s Notes
Zombie scientists let us know: Why is this awesome for Emily?
- The CDC updates give her reassurance and hope for a cure, and a reason to press on.
- She no longer has to pass as uninfected, because she’ll have confidence in her status while she’s human, and not be around very long once she’s…changed. She can even share her current status of 53% to gain access to temporary strongholds and safehouses.
- At 95% transformation, it prompts her to record a video message for her loved ones, which is forwarded upon her destruction along with the “Yeah, she’s a zombie now” message.
- By killing her on a failed test, we reduce the risk to her family and the rest of the still-human population.
