Interface Analysis · Research · Design
What a product says — and what it makes people do.
Irrational Technology is a design consultancy and critical practice. I examine the relationship between what a product says it’s trying to do and what its technology actually makes people do — the assumptions about people, behaviour, markets and society that quietly become interfaces, incentives, flows and language.
A product with a point of view
You want to behave differently from the dominant platforms, and you need the interface to hold that position instead of quietly undoing it.
An interface out of step
What the product means and what the interface makes people do have drifted apart. The behaviour on screen no longer matches the intention behind it.
A hard product problem
You are trying to understand a difficult product problem underneath the UX — in assumptions, incentives and defaults — not just smooth over usability.
Interface Analysis · Research · Design
What a product says — and what it makes people do.
Irrational Technology is a design consultancy and critical practice. I examine the relationship between what a product says it’s trying to do and what its technology actually makes people do — the assumptions about people, behaviour, markets and society that quietly become interfaces, incentives, flows and language.
A product with a point of view
You want to behave differently from the dominant platforms, and you need the interface to hold that position instead of quietly undoing it.
An interface out of step
What the product means and what the interface makes people do have drifted apart. The behaviour on screen no longer matches the intention behind it.
A hard product problem
You are trying to understand a difficult product problem underneath the UX — in assumptions, incentives and defaults — not just smooth over usability.
Interface Analysis · Research · Design
What a product says — and what it makes people do.
Irrational Technology is a design consultancy and critical practice. I examine the relationship between what a product says it’s trying to do and what its technology actually makes people do — the assumptions about people, behaviour, markets and society that quietly become interfaces, incentives, flows and language.
Irrationality
I design experiences that mirror actual human nature, sparking emotion and loyalty instead of just logic.
Desire Paths
Your users already show you what they want through their actions. You just need to listen correctly
Reconnection
The strongest brands restore what modern life strips away. I use social and technical insight sto help you build products people truly crave and come back to.
on the desk
Writing: The Interface Goes Public Reading: Postcapitalism, Paul Mason.
How I work
Three connected ways of working. Analysis, research and design move into one another as a project needs them: analysis can reveal a problem, research can investigate it, and design can change the product. Work often begins with an interface analysis, but none of it is a fixed process.
Reading the product
Interface Analysis
A close read of what the interface actually asks people to do — how they enter, decide, act, return and leave. It surfaces the behavioural logic running underneath the product, and where it has drifted from your intentions.
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Investigating the question
Research
When the analysis raises a bigger question, research investigates it: the people using the product, the assumptions built into it, its language, incentives and the wider context it sits inside.
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Changing the product
Design
Turning what analysis and research reveal into changes in the product — reworking a flow, changing the logic of an interaction, removing a manipulative mechanism, or realigning what the interface says with what it does.
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How I work
Most engagements begin with an interface analysis and grow from there — into research that explains what the analysis surfaced, or design work that puts the changes into the product.
Reading the product
Interface Analysis
I analyse the interface across the journeys that matter most: how people enter, decide, act, return and leave. The result is a picture of the behavioural logic running through the product — what ideas about people, behaviour, markets and society that end up becoming buttons, defaults, incentives and flows.
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Investigating the question
Research
Research extends the analysis into the wider product: its users, assumptions, language, incentives, competitive context and relationship to the people using it The scope grows around the question rather than starting with a fixed research package.
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Changing the product
Interface Design
I work with teams to redesign interfaces around the findings from analysis and research. This can mean reworking a flow, changing the logic of an interaction, clarifying a decision, removing a manipulative mechanism, or redesigning how a product communicates what it wants from people.
ENQUIRE
How I work
Most engagements begin with an interface analysis and grow from there — into research that explains what the analysis surfaced, or design work that puts the changes into the product.
Reading the product
Interface Analysis
A close read of what the interface actually asks people to do — how they enter, decide, act, return and leave. It surfaces the behavioural logic running underneath the product, and where it has drifted from your intentions.
ENQUIRE
Investigating the question
Research
When the analysis raises a bigger question, research investigates it: the people using the product, the assumptions built into it, its language, incentives and the wider context it sits inside.
ENQUIRE
Changing the product
Interface Design
Turning what analysis and research reveal into changes in the product — reworking a flow, changing the logic of an interaction, removing a manipulative mechanism, or realigning what the interface says with what it does.
ENQUIRE