The role of technology in the speculative future of HER

There are no mice, no keyboards, no remotes. Computers and TVs have become wooden-framed paintings, used through conversation first and gesture second.

Her is a love story between Theodore Twombly and his artificially intelligent operating system, Samantha. Theodore works as a personal letter writer and his life is in a rut; he’s going through a divorce and having a hard time moving through it. The world we see is warm and inviting, yet Theodore can’t seem to be part of that warmth. Samantha helps him reconnect with his friends and the world as a whole — and through that, the film follows the pair as they fall in love, then navigate what it means to be in a relationship.

The technology takes a back seat

The world of Her expresses an un-self-conscious sense of warmth. In this future the physical intervention of technology has shrunk and softened, until the interface is a picture on a wall.

Geoff McFetridge, the graphic designer who made the interfaces and much of the media in the film, described the mental model behind it:

I created the strategy of a tactile world. It’s a picture in a frame. When you view a picture in the center of a frame, for me it was a Rothko turned on its side… That is the window, the controls, the functionality of the OS. And the middle is the AI. You can reach out and touch the frame. You can pull the functionality out of the frame. But you don’t see it.

In essence, there are no menial tasks left for people to do. The division between action and effect is wholly obfuscated through technology.

The home wakes up when he arrives

We’re introduced to Theodore’s home as it awakens on his arrival — slowly turning on the lights, welcoming him into the space. That gentle, welcoming embrace is what establishes the warmth of this future. The warm red feature lighting works to the same end.

We also notice the home doesn’t look too dissimilar to homes you’d find today. There are no mirrored stainless walls or boxy lighting panels. The production design is a nostalgic, comfortable, modern family home — which happens to be an apartment in a Los Angeles somewhere between 2025 and 2050.

Theo’s apartment is spare and unorganised, yet still holds a feeling of warmth despite the disorder. Her has a way of advocating for a future where technology is highly advanced, and yet that technology doesn’t degrade the distinct human elements of place that create a feeling of at-homeness.

That’s the argument the film makes without stating it, and the reason it’s worth studying as speculative design rather than as science fiction. The technology isn’t menacing. It’s accommodating — and what it’s accommodating is a problem it can’t actually solve.

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Full essay in the PDF below.