The principles

1. Technology should require the smallest possible amount of attention

   • Technology can communicate, but doesn’t need to speak.

   • Create ambient awareness through different senses.

   • Communicate information without taking the wearer out of their environment or task.

2. Technology should inform and create calm

   • A person's primary task should not be computing, but being human.

   • Give people what they need to solve their problem, and nothing more.

3. Technology should make use of the periphery

   • A calm technology will move easily from the periphery of our attention, to the center, and back.

   • The periphery is informing without overburdening.

4. Technology should amplify the best of technology and the best of humanity

   • Design for people first.

   • Machines shouldn't act like humans.

   • Humans shouldn't act like machines.

   • Amplify the best part of each.

5. Technology can communicate, but doesn’t need to speak

   • Does your product need to rely on voice, or can it use a different communication method?

   • Consider how your technology communicates status.

6. Technology should work even when it fails

   • Think about what happens if your technology fails.

   • Does it default to a usable state or does it break down completely?

7. The right amount of technology is the minimum needed to solve the problem

   • What is the minimum amount of technology needed to solve the problem?

   • Slim the feature set down so that the product does what it needs to do and no more.

8. Technology should respect social norms

   • Technology takes time to introduce to humanity.

   • What social norms exist that your technology might violate or cause stress on?

   • Slowly introduce features so that people have time to get accustomed to the product.