About the topic
In Human-Centred Design, friction is often seen as a usability flaw to be minimised in order to promote user retention and uninterrupted flow with computational media. In this keynote we’ll challenge this assumption, arguing that an overemphasis on such seamlessness interactions can obscure structural inequalities and reproduce power asymmetries that ultimately lead to user exploitation. To counter this and prioritising user intention over retention, we propose friction as a deliberate design strategy to foster reflective play that resists extractive models in contemporary digital media. During the keynote we’ll develop an understanding on why games are a privileged medium to counter seamless and smooth design philosophies, present the Break the Loop project, and display a series of cases and types of friction we have been uncovering.

About the speaker
Pedro Cardoso is a Designer, an Assistant Professor at the Department of Design of the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto, and a Researcher at i2ADS: Research Institute in Art, Design and Society. His work, in the scope of Art, Design, Interaction and Experience, develops in multidisciplinary contexts, focusing on the exploration of poietic and aesthetic processes of games and computational systems. His interests lie in their study as artefacts for creative thinking and innovation, and critical work for affective experiences and social intervention.

Onsite & Online session. The session is free, but registration is required.