Unsmart interfaces

Forbes Lomax Antique Bronze Switch copymini — Forbes & Lomax antique bronze switch

Have we reached peak “smart”? When it comes to design, the assumed convenience of digital interfaces is now giving way to a more hands-on way of experiencing the world.

Take car manufacturers, many of which are moving away from screen-based interfaces and controls. German automaker Volkswagen announced in March 2025 that all next-gen models will now be fitted with physical buttons for volume, seat heating, fan controls and hazard lights. Hyundai already announced that it would revert to physical knobs and buttons in 2024 following feedback on customer frustrations with screens. In an interview with Dezeen at the Venice Biennale this year, the architect Richard Rogers said that "the touchscreen has become almost a reflex" that has been "mindlessly applied to the automobile." He predicts a return to the analog switch for the category.

In January 2026, Euro NCAP, a car safety assessor, will begin incentivizing manufacturers to install separate, physical and tactile controls for basic functions in tests. Director of strategic development Matthew Avery told The Sunday Times that “the overuse of touchscreens is an industry-wide problem, with almost every vehicle-maker moving key controls onto central touchscreens, obliging drivers to take their eyes off the road and raising the risk of distraction crashes.”

Meanwhile architects and designers report a move towards simpler, analog solutions in upscale homes where owners are finding supposedly seamless smart technology too much effort to navigate. As The Hollywood Reporter wrote in April, “the honeymoon period with digital domiciles is now facing the reality of unintelligible interfaces, endless updates, and forgotten passwords.” Los Angeles interior designer Jamie Bush was quoted in the piece, saying that “people are looking for more manual, less complicated places to live.” Among the in-demand features in Hollywood homes? Tactile, vintage-style light switches by British firm Forbes & Lomax, which says it has “always approached the electrical accessory market from an aesthetic point of view.”

Charu Gandhi, founder and creative director of London design studio Elicyon told Architectural Digest Middle East that she’s also noticed “a move [toward] simplicity when it comes to technology solutions…after having tech-heavy homes with complex controls, [one client] now favors the simplest analog systems that won’t be at risk of maintenance issues and glitches.”

At a Glance

84%

agree people are less present due to increased use of technology

At a Glance

88%

agree that they wish life could be simpler sometimes

This yearning for simplicity is also evident in global survey data for our Future 100: 2025 report which found that 88% wish life could be simpler sometimes, and that 84% believe people are less present these days because of increased use of technology. The same report also noted growing uptake of analog hobbies such as needlepoint, pottery classes, and book clubs that ground one in the physical world (in The analog movement). “We’re fed up of Zoom meetings, emails, and WhatsApp messages, and are craving in-person connection and nature,” Stefan Walters, a psychological therapist at London’s Harley Therapy, told VML Intelligence.

Dr Nejra van Zalk, associate professor in psychology and human factors at the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London, and director of the university’s Design Psychology Lab, tells VML Intelligence that smart technologies “are often rolled out too quickly, without adequate time spent to study how people use them in the long term,” due to the pressures of launching products to market.

There’s something undeniably more satisfying about pressing a button than a screen. But in the name of convenience, we’ve removed many of these experiences.

Dr Nejra van Zalk

Associate professor of psychology & human factors, Imperial College London

While digital or contactless processes are preferable in many contexts – like contactless payments for instance – van Zalk notes that experiences offering tactile feedback are innately pleasurable. “There’s something undeniably more satisfying about pressing a button than a screen […] When we are touching objects or pushing buttons, we are engaging multiple areas of our brain and body. But in the name of convenience, we’ve removed many of these experiences for adults.”

Further, as recent outages in Spain, Portugal, and France have demonstrated, making design functions completely “smart” and interconnected can also be problematic when power fails.

Van Zalk advises designers and brands to reflect more deeply on where smart or analog design is preferable, and to “delve deeper into understanding which skills and experiences make up a uniquely human condition and which can be changed or eliminated for the sake of convenience. While it may be more convenient, few people would argue for getting all their nutrition through a tube or a shake. We value the experience of touching and eating food. We should also consider whether pressing buttons is an experience worth preserving.”

The Intelligence take

Is smart always smarter? Consumers are starting to realize how some "smart" interactions could be divorcing them from feeling present in their lives. It seems that despite the pull of seamless convenience, feeling connected to the physical world remains crucial.

Main image: James Orr via Unsplash