Indieweb Carnival Jan 2025: Friction

Within the realms of a company; don't exploit anyone, don't manufacture terrible awful products that go into landfill or are unsafe and hurt people, don't use exploit workers in factories… – Camilla and Jason Iftakhar, Swifty Scooters

A heartfelt manifesto from Camilla and Jason Iftakhar, the founders of design-led company Swifty Scooters. In their podcast they explain how their brand values drive every aspect of their company; product design, product experience, customer service, staff satisfaction and environmental impact.

I was deeply saddened this week to read that Camilla and Jason were recently forced to close the doors of their business. A decade of defiantly defending their ethical process in the pursuit of quality, against the relentless friction of external circumstances has eventually taken its toll.

I’m absolutely gutted for them. At this difficult time, I hope they recognise, and hold close, their courage of doing the right thing for their product, customers and planet. I’m hopeful that Swifty Scooters will return as Phoenix Scooters in the not to distant future.

Camilla and Jason’s admirable approach is almost a challenge to the Unobtainable Triangle. Their unwavering resistance to compromise, ensuring their processes and products aren’t exploitative, and yet still delivering a “superior experience”.

Quality design and quality process allows you to execute and deliver a quality product which delivers a superior experience (that people fall in love with) – Jason Iftakhar

Jason’s emphasis on experience is an interesting one. As designers of products and services, whether physical or digital, we focus on improving the end experience. UX designers have been rallying the cry of “Don’t Make Me Think” since 2000. The pursuit of ease and simplicity has mostly in good faith, mostly.

At the opposite end of the brand values spectrum, there’s a company that has bent the unforgiving rigidity of the Iron Triangle through sheer brutality. Amazon.

As an Amazon customer, you no longer have to think. From one-click payments, self-adhesive ordering buttons, to customer-deployed surveillance snitches: Amazon has optimised every last micron of decision-making into oblivion. Zero friction, zero thought.

By some defiance of logic, Amazon are able to sell quality like-for-like products cheaper than any other retailer and have them delivered to your door the same day.

I suppose the established belief behind the phrase “Quality, Speed, Cost: pick two” was yet another one of Jeff’s ’opportunities‘.

Too good to be true, huh?

Yes, too good to be true. I know it, you know it, we all know it.

Perhaps this triangle isn’t quite as it seems. Perhaps we need to take a new perspective to reveal what has been hidden beneath. If not an Iron Triangle, perhaps a Penrose triangle.

Friction helps us slow down, reorient ourselves in our surroundings, and recognise the complexity and impact of our actions upon others, human or otherwise. This feels like what we need right now.

Add some friction into your world.