Why do I hate the term HMI (Human to Machine Interface)?

A quick Google search gave me back this “gem” that resumes my feeling:

… it allows for interactions between human operators and machines.

Machines! That’s right! like we were still living on the era of Industrial Revolution. If you’re a Design professional… please stop using this term or “HMI”. When you use this term, “HMI” or “Human to Machine Interaction” you are conveying an idea that the interface is a poor, secondary, product child of a machine, the all hardware.

While for me Hardware and Software are both equally important and together they form a… Product, or a Service. Teams need to be more focused on the Product and not just on the Hardware or just on the Software bits.

On the other hand, Human-centered Design (HCD) is a more adequate expression, because it implies that no matter if it’s Software, Hardware, a Business or a Service everything must be centered on Humans.

Originally published at http://www.brunojulio.com on March 10, 2019.