Some practical examples

Audio

We often forget that audio is a huge contextual component we should be taking advantage of. For example, the airline industry uses a wide array of audio cues to notify the crew. You know, those little ding tones that sound like Morse code? If your smart devices could listen for those sounds, then it could prompt the device to turn off or go into flight mode. It certainly would solve some sticky problems for our celebrity friends.

In the living room

The next digital space to be conquered is the living room. Of the companies currently working to capture it, Intel is leading the way. It’s testing a prototype remote that identifies who’s holding the remote and can offer recommendations for TV shows based on that information. Imagine a kid picking up the device and discovering that they have learning shows or cartoons available, and then their dad picks up the same remote and he sees sports.

Couple this with the rumoured iTV, and you can just imagine the possibilities that lie ahead. Apps and web content could be prompted on the device by audio watermarking from TV shows, movies, or even commercials.

Location, location, location

The Starbucks and Square partnership is one example of businesses moving towards contextual design. The New York Times states that eventually customers will be able to order a grande vanilla latte and charge it to their credit cards just by saying their names: simple yet exciting.

Apple’s new Passbook app gives third party companies the ability to create tickets and store them in one location on a user’s device. The great thing is that it automatically attaches them to context. Take, for example, a movie ticket. You enter the cinema around the start time of the movie and instantly a notification is triggered, upon which you’re presented with the ticket. No more digging into the depths of your apps to find something. It all happens in context on the device.

Social

Another example is the digital Facebook Likes coat rack. C&A has debuted a high-tech hanger that tallies how many Facebook Likes an item of clothing on its racks receives. Powered by the Brazilian retailer’s website, the device features a built-in digital display that gauges a garment’s popularity — or lack thereof.

Calendar

Let’s imagine a person has accepted the privacy acknowledgement of the content on their calendar, so you can now leverage it. Their calendar notes that they have a birthday event to attend tomorrow. Upon walking into a store to purchase a gift, the user’s mobile device can now serve up a discount or make suggestions based on the understanding of having a birthday event to attend according to the calendar.

Devices big and small

Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) will enable the internet to support many more devices by greatly increasing the number of possible addresses. In essence, everything will be connected and radiate information. Think not only every digital device, but every single physical object. Imagine a beer glass having the ability to detect the type of beer you’re drinking and when it’s nearly empty, with a tap on the touch screen, another beer could be delivered. These experiences might sound extreme or distant — but the reality is that they’re not that far off.

A ‘just right’ experience

With contextual design comes the Goldilocks principle: You have to get things just right, or it could have consequences. Removing content from an interface robs the user of that information — there had better be a great reason for not showing something. If a user is near one of your offices and trying to find directions, pushing the nearest location to the top is a great example of contextual design. Removing all other locations from the list, and only showing the nearest, is just plain bad design, because they might want to actually see the other locations, too.

There are also common pitfalls that we should avoid buying into when designing these experiences. Just because it is mobile doesn’t mean the download speeds are low. Context doesn’t always indicate intent. ‘Big Mother’ doesn’t always mean it’s Big Brother.

Contextual design works within the nuances of an experience, rather than pushing the interface to extreme changes or rules. It’s important to allow for flexibility. In iOS6 Apple has added a ‘do not disturb’ setting for notifications and phone calls. However, what if someone was calling with an emergency while the setting was on? The developers recognised this possibility, and if someone calls several times in a row the call is allowed through.

Anytime and everywhere

How we interact with devices is changing and the context is at the forefront of that change. Companies such as Apple have filed numerous patents that look at context. As chips become cheaper and smaller, we’ll continue to see a wave of connected devices everywhere that read these inputs and change based on context.