Week 6 Session: Friction Lab

Not all difficulty is equal — redesigning one task three ways and comparing what each version costs the user. Assessment 2 is due this week

29 March 2027

Before the session#

Bring one simple task from your week 5 interface — buy a ticket is the standing example — that you can redesign three separate times before the session ends.

In the session#

The Friction Lab: you redesign the same task three ways — a low-friction version, an annoying version, and an extremely high-friction version — and compare how small design decisions increase the effort required to complete an otherwise identical task. A password reset that protects an account is useful friction; the same requirement demanded weekly is destructive friction wearing the same clothes.

Afterwards#

Assessment 2, the Worst Interface, is due today — the deliberate, explained version of what you started building in week 5. Weeks 7 to 9 leave the screen entirely.