invisible infrastructure

2026.01 · 2 min

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<article> <header class="post-header"> <h1>invisible infrastructure</h1> <p class="meta">2025.01 · 3 min</p> </header>

<div class="content"> <p> The best infrastructure is invisible. You don't think about DNS until it fails. You don't notice the power grid until the lights go out. This invisibility is a feature, not a bug. </p>

<p> But there's a cost to invisibility: we stop understanding how things work. We become dependent on systems we can't see, can't fix, can't even describe. </p>

<figure> <img src="../images/signal-flow.svg" alt="Signal flow diagram showing input, process, output"> <figcaption>everything flows through systems we rarely examine</figcaption> </figure>

<h2>the amiwo problem</h2>

<p> This is why I'm building <em>Amiwo</em>. Air quality affects us constantly — our mood, cognition, sleep, health. Yet we can't see it. The infrastructure of the air around us is entirely invisible. </p>

<p> Making it visible changes behavior. A number on a screen creates awareness. Awareness creates action. The invisible becomes actionable. </p>

<h2>a design principle</h2>

<p> When building systems, consider: should this be invisible? Sometimes yes. The user shouldn't care how your authentication works. But sometimes the answer is no — making a system visible gives users agency. </p>

<ul> <li>Show the loading state, not just the result</li> <li>Expose the process, not just the outcome</li> <li>Make the invisible visible when visibility enables action</li> </ul>

<p> Infrastructure should be invisible when it's working. But we should always have a way to see it when we need to. </p> </div> </article>