Reference
Maurer, L., & Wouters, R. (n.d.). Designing Friction. Retrieved 12 October 2026, from https://designingfriction.com/
Abstract
A fundamental design principle for techno optimists. How we need to move towards friction in digital culture. By Luna Maurer & Roel Wouters
Highlights
Friction is an essential ingredient that makes up our humanness and sparks human connection. Friction is a lively, intrinsic experience.
Digital technology has long pursued the goal of eliminating friction, striving for seamlessness.
Transactions with machines are perceived to be smoother than interactions with fellow humans.
do we expect life to be smooth and frictionless as well?
Unpredictability, human messiness and unforeseen actions are all friction, and counter this goal. Predictable futures can be controlled.
We like to see designing friction as a fundamental design principle when working with digital culture.
not as an extra layer
Summary
The goal is to question the current state of digital technology and its aim towards frictionless systems. They list the effects that the loss of friction has and can have on us, including how data makes our behaviour predictable and controllable, and how AI as a companion pulls us towards emotional dependency and loss of autonomy, since we have to perform our predictable selves. At the same time, they stir up the imagination about what friction can offer, presenting four main directions worth considering: discomfort, time delay, engaging the body, and non-positive, all centred on not losing our humanness. They also remind us that friction “is not synonymous with either anger or conflict, nor is it malfunctioning technology”, but “an essential ingredient that makes up our humanness and sparks human connection”.
Critical analysis
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| the authors do not cling to the pre-digital era and its nostalgia, they emphasise what effects frictionless systems have. they frame the proposal as designing with digital technology, not abandoning it | it is a manifesto, a proposal, not a research paper |
| the four directions work as a starting point, an introduction to how designers could try to embrace friction. the vagueness seems intentional, to stir up the imagination | the line between friction and dysfunction or a barrier can be thin, especially with different accessibility needs. while presented as a fundamental design principle, it needs to be handled with much more care |
Relevance to my research
- pivotal text that inspired the thesis and holds it all together
- the thesis builds mainly on the definition of friction and critique of seamlessness