We live in an era of near-frictionless design, where incredibly complex pieces of technology — like the smartphone — rarely require an instruction manual. For this we have to thank the world of user-experience, or UX design — a design practice that governs the shape, tactility, look, and understanding of the objects of everyday life. 

Cliff Kuang is someone who's spent a lot of time thinking about the history and ethics of this field, which recently culminated in the book, User Friendly: How the Hidden Rules of Design are Changing the Way We Live, Work & Play. He joins Blueprint to give us a brief introduction to the world of UX, and why we should all be a lot more critical about what makes design 'friendly'.

This was first broadcast on November 27, 2021.