How Design Commoditizes Tech: The Interface Layer

We've all seen the recent excitement around Uber and other "interface-driven" businesses that add a layer of convenience between us and the underlying services and utilities that improve our lives. I recently wrote a long-form post on the topic, but wanted to share a few take-aways that have resonated with others - and may have implications for your business.

What is "The Interface Layer?"

It’s not just about great design, it is about the integration of the actions that make life easier and the commoditization of the services underneath. It is more than a layer, it is a shift in the economy that is led by designers rather than cable executives, tech titans, and logistics masterminds. It is a “closed” user experience built on top of a wide open and hotly competitive ecosystem of services.

Currently, we have dozens of apps on our devices that do specific things very well - each with its own highly-customize interface. I would argue that, in some ways, atomization went too far, and now the pendulum is swinging back in the direction of one-stop solutions for integrated services. This is great for users, but it threatens to commoditize the logistics and content providers underneath.

One example is the integration of Uber in Google Maps (an Interface Layer for navigating the world). Now, as you navigate your way around and search for places you want to visit, Uber’s service is incorporated as an option within the experience. At first glance, this is fantastic (and makes Google’s recent investment in Uber even more brilliant). No doubt, more services that work best in a map-like “Interface Layer” will integrate into Google Maps. But, over time, will further integration of services into the maps interface further commoditize the services? If you’re able to order a ride from within the Maps experience, will you care less who the provider is? Will our loyalty to specific services be compromised by the aggregated Interface Layers we use to access them?

Who Wins in the Age of Aggregated Interfaces?

• Customers will have a better user experience and less friction.
• Service Providers benefit initially from a broader reach and seamless integration into other products from Interface Layer companies. But they may lose their identity over time, and competition will heat up as more (and new) underlying services compete on price and cut deals with the Interface Layer companies.
• Designers are the biggest winners of all. Designers become the most important leaders of this new business era (which is why we see people like John Maeda joining firms like Kleiner Perkins, and funds like the Designer Fund emerging with a focus on designer-founded businesses). The success of companies in the Interface Layer will be designer-driven, and the greatest user experience (speed, design, etc…) will win. [Sidenote: UX/UI is one of the fastest growing fields in Behance right now, here’s some of the top work]

How Will “Interface Layer” Companies Measure Their Success?

Companies in the Interface Layer will be design-heavy. They will rapidly iterate and test user experience and interface design better than ever before. These companies will be obsessed with the design process as their product and will leave almost everything underneath (the logistics, etc) to the actual service providers (the old internet economy).

These companies will be founded explicitly to build a superior interface that integrates an existing set of services. They will measure their performance based on (1) the degree of loyalty their interface commands, (2) whether they have economized the end-to-end consumption of a set of services better than anyone else, and (3) whether they are able to squeeze the underlying service partners on price, availability, and quality.

What Does The Interface Layer Teach Us?

The underlying concepts of the “Interface Layer” teach us a lot about what makes modern web services succeed.

(1) The success or failure of a product is less about the technology and more the user’s experience of the technology. Be sure to find, keep, compensate, and celebrate those that are pushing the world of UX/UI forward. In the world of web services, design can no longer be outsourced or relegated to a department. As interfaces become companies, design will increasingly become THE business.

(2) Increasingly, the greatest competitive advantage will be ease (and speed) of use — not just for a particular action/service, but for a sequence of related services working together to make your life better. No doubt, the best businesses kill friction.

(3) The quest to atomize services and user experiences helped usher in an era of simple design and logical defaults. These same principles will now be used to aggregate and integrate services into common interfaces. The screens in our hands, on our wrists, and in our homes will become a conduit to daily living in a more integrated fashion than we might expect. Turns out the future is NOT a thousand separate dedicated apps after all! Perhaps atomization of services/apps is a prerequisite for aggregation?

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The concept of the “Interface Layer” is not a new idea. The integration of services has always been a goal for many industries. But the capacity of UX/UI has, in some ways, caught up with the tech underneath. Many leaders of the “tech industry” are now distinguished more by their design than their technology. Just as there is a layer of tech over everyday life, there is now a layer of design over everyday tech. This changes everything...

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Photo Credit: 99U

[Author is an investor in Uber; Full Article/Disclosures available in original post on Medium]