"For decades, digital design was scenic, focused on a visual landscape of interfaces. We crafted beautiful buttons, perfected navigation hierarchies, and guided users through carefully choreographed journeys from screen to screen. The interface was the destination: load the right view, click the right control, follow the designed path. But intent is semantic. It's driven by meaning, purpose, and the unspoken why behind each action."
"In the scenic paradigm, every digital experience followed a familiar script. Users navigated URLs, scanned menus, and translated their goals into the language of the interface. Click "Travel," then "Flights," then fill out departure, arrival, dates, and passengers. The burden was on the user to map their intent onto the system's structure. This worked when interfaces were simple and tasks were predictable. But as workflows grew more complex, the scenic approach began to break down."
Design is shifting from scenic approaches that rely on visual landscapes and prescribed navigation to semantic approaches that interpret intent and meaning. Scenic design required users to translate goals into interface actions across multiple tools, increasing cognitive load and friction. Semantic design focuses on understanding purpose and the unspoken why behind actions, enabling systems to respond contextually rather than presenting fixed command choices. AI accelerates this shift by reshaping how systems interpret intent and connect workflows. The transition moves experiences from interface-as-destination to context-aware interactions that streamline complex tasks and reduce task mapping overhead.
Read at Medium
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