7.Online, available?
Critique to WhatsApp's design
Whatsapp uses many mechanisms to maximize the time we spend within the app subliminally. An example is the “online” status, an element that appears when the person has the app open in the foreground, but which suggests that he is available. This generates harmful dynamics based on the pressure to answer and the need to get instant answers, getting us to spend more time in the app.
To make people aware of this interest that is hidden behind the
design of the app, we have created two stickers. In them, you can read “Whatsapp wants your attention” and “Online, available?”. We have also designed three more that embody the anxieties or concerns that may arise in the users of the application. All these stickers are intended to be placed on the mobile phone, so that they act as a reminder every time we pick it up, helping us to distance ourselves from the inputs of the app through a critical look.
Whatsapp has many more features that pressure us to spend more
time in the app, so this work could have been extended to all of them. However, the reflection and message behind our proposal can be extrapolated to those other elements, so it can help to awaken a critical look towards other agents in this or other apps.
Assignment for my “Critique and redesign of Digital Behavior” class
2nd year of ELISAVA’s Interaction Design degree, 2020
Work by Samanta Roman and me.
2nd year of ELISAVA’s Interaction Design degree, 2020
Work by Samanta Roman and me.