Mobile Location Based Services: You’re tired and cranky after another distressingly long subway ride to an unfamiliar part of town. Your mobile senses this and recommends you take a break at a nearby coffee shop. The device points the way, checks the complex menu and suggests three items best suited to helping you relax and restore your physical-emotional balance.

Fashion/Apparel: You’ve purchased the latest Under Armour Sport Tactical Vest for the players on your team and linked them to the coaching staff’s integrated performance optimization system. The system monitors individual and collective bio-emotional and physiological stats while sending just-in-time haptic ‘coaching cues’ to players during practice.

Navigation & Browsing: You become eligible for a cable or Internet service upgrade and decide to have your provider install the latest integrated multi-touch bio-emotive program guide. You ‘surf’ like never before as the system recognizes and establishes a personal, empathetic connection between you and your preferred content.

Health & Gaming: You join a specialized yoga class called Meditation for Longevity and Gaming where you learn not only to identify and control your thoughts and emotions for personal health reasons but also to improve your mastery over new, multi-modal gaming consoles that demand the integrated use of body, spirit, and mind.

Tele-Intimacy: Your spouse moves abroad for several months on contract work and the separation puts a great deal of emotional stress on your relationship. You decide to purchase a tele-intimacy kit made by Philips that includes home-based applications designed to help the two of you connect and feel each other’s presence in…more ways than one.

To take advantage of this sense-rich paradigm early enough to prototype the kind of disruptive products and services that offer competitive advantage, brands and businesses need to understand the intersections between future technology and evolving humanity. That first requires a more robust, competitive R&D process. The research, design and development of multi-modal feelback systems and their successful incorporation in products and services will rely on multi-disciplinary teams drawing on very specific and specialized areas of knowledge, experience and expertise in and around the affective domain of ‘feel’.

Because the layering, combination, and re-combination of a wider spectrum of input/output modalities will create a host of new usability problems- one or more critical collaborative R&D areas will need to cultivate the space between Human Factors, Anthropology and Industrial Design. Standardization issues surrounding multi-touch input languages – where the function and meaning of finger gestures varies greatly from one device or platform to another or, equally important, from one group of users to another, will be solved only through research on product prototypes and users in action and in context. Otherwise, the social, cultural, cognitive, physical and performative are all potential glitches waiting to trip up organizations that fail to recognize, appreciate and design for human diversity. Like the pictures Wolf pulled yesterday on the big screen, those organizations will quickly become old news.

However, striking this balance in the modern world, and more importantly the emerging world must take on a different meaning.  As the old notions of luxury are challenged, they must make way for a new set of user dynamics and offer solutions to the people who live in the growing Megacities (cities with populations over 10 million).

In 2000, there were 18 megacities – conurbations such as Mumbai, Tokyo, New York City, and Mexico City had populations in excess of 10 million inhabitants. Greater Tokyo already has 35 million, which is greater than the entire population of Canada.  (source: Wikipedia)  2015 and beyond will also  see cities like Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, added to this list to name a few.

Transportation on the whole is beginning to splinter into many different value streams such as delivery-on-demand, hub-to-hub services and deliveries, international condo cruisers, executive coaches, virtual garages, post-materialistic neighborhood eco-cars, shared-public vehicles, super-budget-sub $3000, and also new derivatives of personal mobility leading to even more avenues.

As Mega-cities become the norm, consumer attitudes will shift further away from the traditional aspiration of commuter vehicle ownership.  The costs associated with owning, insuring, driving, navigating, re-fueling, re-charging and parking will begin to unravel the notion of investing in one single mode of transport.  In its place, we will see more services based types of transportation.  All it will take are a few entrepreneurs who can splice together on-demand services with real-time users who consumers who are looking for more than just a taxi.

We must search out new ways of mobility, in terms of prestige, convenience, adaptability, affordability, dependability, the “raison d’etre” …… and we must find them quickly.  For consumers, they must be offered some form of tangible incentive, be it joy from the sheer act of being mobile, entertainment, price or convenience.

In terms of Engineering and Design, there are studies currently taking place around the use of robotics in the transportation industry; GM EN-V is one example of a technology demonstrator, and is now on display now at the Shanghai World Expo. The EN-V operates on technology borrowed from Segway, and the entire vehicle is half the size of a Smart car, fully electronic, has a top speed of 25 mph, and is capable of making turns 360 degrees in-place.Another example is the T.25 concept from Gordon Murray (Designer of the famous supercar; McLaren F1), which demonstrates foresight for government regulations, and fuel economy mandates, which are expected by the year 2020.

Transportation technologies have the ability to facilitate change, but ultimately adoption of this will rely completely on the behavior of how humans move about.  Metropolitan cities are more fashion conscious, and urban dwellers are more interested spending money on others things rather than to automobiles.  These people have other desires for items; shoes, purses, headphones, jackets etc…  But human behavior is not an engineering subject and neither is fashion. Therefore, the future scenarios of personal mobility will be less about pure Engineering, more about Ethnography and Designing towards consumer tastes and their unique interests.

Soon, consumers will not care so much about who manufactured their product, but instead they will be more interested in what Designer, Stylist, Co-creator or Theme Artist customized their mobility.  As this scenario evolves it will begin to see an over-lapping of transport services that combines with fashion design, product design, and experience design.

Touch opens a wider variety of interface and application options not constrained by old degrees of interaction physicality. It has improved on the accessibility and experience of websites, video and gaming. It has created sentimental consumer demand for a new retro paradigm by transferring analogue artifacts (e.g. rotary phone interfaces, compasses) into the digital realm and it offers a relatively low cost and efficient way to try, fail .and improve upon even more new ideas.

What do we lose by replacing our buttons with pixels and graphics though?

For many of us, sensuality. Touch eliminates the familiar tactile feedback associated with the push, click, and resistance of a button. Like somatosensory wastelands, flat screen touch devices lack the stimulating vibro-electro-mechanical feedback of past interfaces. This has sparked criticism from both consumers and proponents of universal design principles. For fewer than most of us, but equally if not more important in considering the “unmet and unarticulated consumer needs” that many of us say should drive design thinking- touch threatens accessibility. Designers of touch have yet to seriously consider how, for example, a person with visual disabilities will interact with current and future products.

Steps towards feeling

Ongoing, innovative work is being done to re-capture, improve upon, and amplify the tactile and multi-sensorial qualities of future interfaces. Much of this work points to emerging transitions in the first wave of feel and feelback systems. For example, a recent project entitled “Dynamically Changeable Physical Buttons on a Visual Display,” conducted by Chris Harrison and Scott Hudson at Carnegie Mellon University exemplifies an incremental push towards more tactile forms of touch-based interaction. In a more radical fashion, “Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display,” is a new holographic display system developed by researchers at the University of Tokyo that enables users to experience tactile feedback through focused ultrasound waves that produce vibrations felt on the skin. Other new interface and interaction modalities serve as starting points for further thought and discussion about the ongoing shift from touch to feel.

Haptic Technology has evolved way beyond the Rumble Pack video game controller and the iPhone’s turn to view or shake to shuffle interactions towards more sophisticated forms of input/output. Novint’s newly released Falcon gaming controller is an excellent example of a design evolution enabling entirely new gaming experiences. Phillips’ Forced Feedback Jacket and similar projects by the United States Department of Defense aim at increasing a grunt’s situational awareness and ability to feel their way around the battlefield.

Tele-presence and Tele-intimacy are pushing the boundaries in more personal and intimate ways. Consider tele-dildonics, Internet connected and mobile sex toys that enable direct feelback stimulation between partners. Alternatively, Mustugoto, a project developed at Distance Lab, uses computer vision and a projection system to “allow users to draw on each other’s bodies – enabling a different kind of synchronous communication that leverages the emotional quality of physical gesture.”

In the realm of Gestural Interface, Nokia has been exploring how pointing, waving and flipping a phone over to silence it can enhance mobile experiences. These natural gestures and spur-of-the-moment emotional responses to a disruptive in-coming call create the illusion that the device can see, sense and feel its user. Microsoft’s Natal project for Xbox 360 pushes this apparent feelback even further by mixing computer vision with an avatar (read: an intelligent agent) that can recognize a user’s facial features and, to some degree, displayed emotions to deliver a more ‘natural’ interaction and compelling experience.

Also known as brain machine interfaces (BMIs), Neural Interfaces employ non-invasive fMRI and EEG signal scanning techniques to enable mind-to-machine interaction. Applications include the control of robotic limbs, gaming, therapeutic exercises for treating ADHD, communication and art. One example comes from biosensor company NeuroSky which has developed a ‘mindset’ application where users visualize brainwaves as they listen to music – described on their company website as the ability to “translate feelings into actions.”

Bio-emotional Interfaces harness emotions, cognitive states and physiological states as input/output modalities. According to Philips, SKIN, one of their many inspirational design explorations, signifies a shift from ‘intelligent’ to ‘sensitive’ products and technologies by integrating new materials into the area of emotional sensing. Although we still haven’t experienced widespread intelligent products yet, the promise of sensitive ones is certainly alluring.

Affective Computing suggests markets emerging around new experiences with sensitive products and services based on the softer side of input – mood, feeling and emotion. MIT’s Affective Computing group is conducting a wide range of research and design that focuses on, among other things, the development of new affective sensing techniques, machine learning algorithms, technologies to help people become more aware of emotional states and communicating them, and the ethics of Affective Computing. Applications in this domain vary from serving people with Autism to gathering customer experience data to mobile health applications like outpatient monitoring.

Research being conducted on Artificial Intelligence and Assistants could well lead to the emergence of working relationships between people and their intelligent assistants, A.I. entities that understand and help us satisfy our needs. DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) funded projects like Pal (Personal Assistant that Learns) and SRI International’s CALO (Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes) are pushing the boundaries of what these intelligent agents might do to help us maximize our individual and collective potential. Some applications include managing tasks, social networks and interactions as well as gathering, organizing and preparing information. Note: these are not the friendly paper clips or wizards we’ve grown accustomed to on Windows machines.

These are all steps towards the shift from touch to feel, a transition that might eventually combine potentials and characteristics to enable entirely new, sense-based forms of interaction, communication and exchange. This transition from disparate forms of single modality interaction towards multi-modal interaction will be slow, but when (and if) it occurs the illusion of predictive modeling and suggestion will be shattered by a new reality where our products, objects and devices will, over time and through new forms of usage intimacy, get to know us, feel us and learn how to better meet our needs.

How will this shift change the way products are defined, shaped, and made? Will it make products or services easier, better, more enjoyable, more intuitive or more meaningful to use?  Stay Tuned for part 3

As designers/industrial designers/architects/visionary futurists we must be able to employ many tools, and with the passing of the hand-drawn ship curves we are now permanently entering the realm of an almost fully digital process.   With so many new softwares becoming available, the creative process itself has become fully encompassed with digital tools for every aspect of product design right down to sketch gestures that utilize soft A.I. that maps out your ‘intended’ brush strokes (iPhone apps).  Perhaps it is not an absolute necessity to know all digital modeling software programs but it goes without saying designers need to know softwares and know them intimately well.  However, as the next generation of designer/cad jockeys inherit an entirely new set of softwares the idea of what it means to be a ‘designer’ is being challenged.

At one point in the early 2000’s digital skills were a double edge sword, because once you excelled at a certain program you could be easily pigeonholed into being labeled a ‘digital wizard’.  Not to diminish the merits of CAD modelers and the technical people who support the design process, but creating math models in virtual space (at that time) did not constitute being a Designer.  I speak from first-hand experience on this, as my automotive career began using Alias AutoStudio.   My first appointment within at an OEM Design Studios in North America quickly made me realize that there was a negative aspect to be associated with a CAD programs.   The dreaded label of ‘surface-modeler’ or ‘CAD-jockey’ proved to be an obstacle but it no less to diminished the  aspiration of becoming an automotive designer.  As part of the creative design team, the words ‘cad-jockey’ or ‘cad-monkey’ were  a scarlet letters to carry around, while typically viewed as only a supporting role to other designers, the skills learned there proved to be invaluable.

Now a decade on, in 2010 there is a fast growing movement happening in the realm of CAD and nowhere is the phenomenon more visible than in Architecture.  ‘Algorithm architecture’ as it has been referred to, is challenging the old paradigms of designer to CAD person workflows.  In this instance, a clever group of CAD/code scripting folks have figured out a way to introduce code-bred designs that were generated from algorithms. Most of the aesthetically pleasing examples, still have a human mind over-seeing the entire process in order to weed out the unattractive compositions.  Final designs are selected based on both their aesthetic and functional merits, which is a result of continually re-running the programs.  This process will certainly evolve to another level once social networking has been factored into this process (such as Threadless, X-Prize and Local Motors Competitions).  CAD worker and Architect are becoming synonymous in the field of architecture and eventually this wil become the case for product development as well.

Currently a fashion statement for automotive, as emulated fractal architecture (Pandion Showcar from Bertone), there are  subtle signs that logaritm architecture will find its way (and purpose) into product development.  In the future this means that when we are given primary structure (which is initially designed around strength analysis software), the result of the skeletal load paths could then be paired with another program to accommodate aesthetic designs along the same lines and volumes.  Perhaps the entire process could even provide a feed-back loop which allows the object itself to change the overall design and engineering to suit preferences. Case and point; Emergent Architecture based out of Los Angeles, CA.

The net result of all these scripted-code-based designs on Product Development will be a steady and fundamental shift in the way the final output (the finished design) is conceived, created, and employed.  In some cases this process is completely blurring the lines between the Designer, Modeler, Script-coder, Art Director and Architect.  It is amazing to think that a 100 years ago, most buildings were constructed using carved wood logs, bricks and stone.  Now however, we are entering a permanent phase where mass-customized designs, and re-mixed designs are created using some form of Algorithms or Logarithms.  Visual Art meets C0-engineered/ Software Adaptive/Computer Aided Design.

If you consider that most digital files can be either downloaded (or re-produced by novice digital creator), the designs of the future  will be available across a variety of shared resources any where in the world.  You may begin to realize the impact that this may have when you start to think about the emerging markets.  In developing countries (who do not have legacy costs with conventional know-how) begin make their investments in newer technologies instead of the old ones, an accelerating shift will occur.  The capability of technically savvy entrepreneurs will be able to easily manipulate and re-produce high-end  designs or even be able to single out any desirable trait or elements which they deem desirable.  All it will take for a company to exceed in these markets is an initial investment in creative process with CAD software and access to rapid prototyping machines.

Here are some tips and tricks that I learned along the way:

1.    Talk to Locals (Use the internet as a reference only)
Who cares where you’re from or what you don’t know− talk to local people, they know best. I talked to strangers on the streets, clerks at convenient stores, homeless people, drunk people at bars, and figured out what’s real and what’s a tourist trap. Use the internet as a reference only!
We also figured out that since Austin is a BBQ city and famous for their meat, the air tends to smell like meat as well.  We quickly assumed from the restaurants we ate at and the research we did, that Texas is not a vegan/healthy food kind of city. However, after talking to locals, we were quite surprised to hear that Austin is one of the most health conscious and vegan friendly cities in Texas. Case-in-point, you’re first assumptions are not always right.

2.    Be Adventurous, Try New Places
If you have the opportunity to either go to a local coffee bar or a Starbucks type chain, go local− chances are the Starbucks will be exactly the same in any and every city. You could learn a lot about the culture and the people in a city by visiting places that are quaint, or a ‘hole in the wall’ type place. If you think you see an interesting or unique place, peak your head in; there is nothing to be shy or nervous about. Plus, you’ll be leaving in a few days anyway; you don’t want to have any regrets.

3.    Blend In, Stand Out
When you are in a new city, go with the flow, do what people do, eat what people eat, and wear what people wear. However, be yourself and don’t be afraid to let people know that you are not from the city. Ask questions, remember details, and listen− people love talking about themselves and love telling their stories.

4.    Walk Everywhere
Walking is a key tool in helping you familiarize yourself with the size, scale, people, and environment of a new city. We even walked along highways because that was a big part of Austin. They didn’t have a subway system or anything. Everyone drove cars, especially trucks and not many people live downtown except for the high-end rich people.

5.    Be Interested, Stay Interesting
It is essential to always stay “alert” and be interested in what people are saying and it is also important to sometimes just listen. You need to know the art of carrying a conversation, infuse your two cents when necessary, but sometimes you have got to just listen, and listen, and listen. However, if the conversation is going in an unusual or unrelated direction, it is key to know how and when to direct the conversation to get the information you want and need.

6.    It’s Nice to be a Girl
I know this is something that we obviously don’t have control over, but if you are a girl, chances are people will be friendlier to you, nicer to you, less threatened by you, and most importantly, people will be more open and willing to tell you the things you want to know.

Lessons Learned- I have a lot more to learn but overall this was a fantastic experience.  The only question I have left is, when is my next business trip?

Click to Be Taken to the Youtube Video Demonstration of the Tablet Reader

In general, the information and articles that are presented in these magazines are almost all available online in some form.  Magazines are still working as though the internet does not exist, that it cannot provide a willing user almost limitless access to any type of information they wish (and some they don’t), at a moments notice.  Magazines operate under huge lead times, often prepping and finishing a magazine a month to two in advance of the actual street date.  Obviously, this means that things can happen between the time the magazine hits the newstands and the time that it has gone to press quite easily.  A tablet version would seem to solve that problem at first, but it just exposes the root of the problem in that, the internet can simply do that type of information retrieval better, faster, and easier for the user.  The problem stems from these magazines not being able to differentiate themselves enough in the eyes of the reader from any standard website that can provide them with this information.  There simply is no innovation.

Looking at what Time Inc. has planned for the digital magazine, it seems like the biggest innovation they have is the ability to customize some contents of the magazine to the users liking, such as adding a custom fantasy football team to track, and videos embedded into the magazine, as well as (and this one is clearly for the user…) more dynamic advertising.  Is that really what they feel passes for innovative and attention grabbing?  Various websites have been doing this for years now.  Custom homepages are tailored to the individual users’ needs, and across a much broader scope than say just sports, but rather, politics, entertainment, technology and then maybe sports as well.  Magazines are simply failing to leverage their greatest asset over the internet.

Put simply, the writing one finds on the internet is 95% drivel.  Put up against writing consisting mainly of blogs, anonymous comments, and poorly written reviews and commentary, magazine writers are made to look like Hemingway.  These writers need to be afforded the freedom to chase and write articles that are compelling, and are not the standard canned articles you can find anywhere on the internet with a couple clicks.  They need to dig deeper, evoke some wonder, intrigue, emotion, something.  The angles on the articles need to be fresh and attention grabbing.  The content once again has to reign supreme.  You can’t compete against the internet in a direct manner, if any lesson was to be learned from the music industry.  What you have to do, is find a slightly different avenue to travel down, and then do your best to leverage the opportunities that the internet presents.  If a magazine can write compelling content on a monthly (or perhaps bi-weekly?) basis, with the ability to have access to all the same features (pictures, videos, real time scores, etc) the internet presents all month long, then perhaps the product can succeed.  As it stands, Time Inc.’s vision is thoroughly underwhelming.

After getting multiple complains from many people and becoming hesitant when sending out any sort of text, I was finally fed up enough to go to the phone company and ask them what the problem was.

The local phone company kiosk I visited told me to directly call the phone company on my cell phone and that they would re-set my phone system. As far as I can remember, the number to call from your cell phone to reach the service provider has always been *611. It may have been the sales associate handwriting, or perhaps I was crossed-eyed for a split second, but the sheet of paper with the “*611” on it clearly read “*Cell” to me. I started to think, was it coincidence or were these three seemingly random numbers strategically chosen to subliminally remind us what the numbers mean?

I started to think that all of the numbers were strategically chosen to carry some form meaning or association. Another example I thought of was “411” the telephone directory. Did you know that “411” can also be read as “ALL”? I have done some light research, but I haven’t found any hard evidence that suggests this was deliberate. I however, would love to talk to the person who picked the numbers to see if it was a coincidence or not.

- Jess

Through a series of explorations around collapsibility, rough sketches were produced. These rough sketches were prototyped through a series of half scale models built out of foam core and tape, enabling me to rapidly and cost effectively verify the stability and collapsibility of the concept.

Building on a theme of portable luxury, warm dark wood was combined with cool metal to create an aesthetic rarely found at your average park or bus stop, catching the eye of your newest BFF.

100 Wishes prompts a terminal patient to choose 100 wishes that he or she did not have a chance to fulfill themselves while they were healthy in life. Family members and friends will be given the opportunity to take one of the 100 wishes as his or her own, not only as a way of honouring the departed, but also as a way for the participants to share a final tangible experience with their loved one.

The memoriam is a large unit comprised of many small containers that resemble dandelion seeds, each holding equal portions of ashes of the deceased. Within each seed container there is a note with the description of the person’s incomplete dying wish. Once the wish is completed, the note is replaced with a photo capturing the moment of achievement of the special wish. The seed container is then once again placed back into the large unit.

When the wishes have all been satisfied, the soul of the departed can finally be at rest, knowing that through their loved ones they have completed , being able to rest knowing that they have been honoured by those that truly love and care for them. The wishes serve to bring the friends and family closer to the departed through the exploration of their deepest wishes and aspirations. In addition to providing comfort to the terminally ill and providing a proactive form of remembrance for their loved ones, it serves to remind everyone involved that one never knows what lies ahead, and we must live as though each day was our last.

The first redo involved changing way the taskbar grows to show the preview panes.  In order to combat my friend’s lack of ability to choose exactly what he wanted without going through several clicks, now when a mouse hovers anywhere on the taskbar itself, all the preview panes fly out vertically.  Clicking on the taskbar would keep preview panes in the ‘fly-out’ position until one is chosen, or the taskbar clicked again to have them all ‘fly-in’. The preview panes could also be turned off to improve overall CPU performance or just to reduce overall clutter, with a result that would look something like the following:

The lack of preview pane makes the total space that is taken up significantly less, and is more akin to the taskbar from Windows XP and Vista.  This could serve a potential benefit of acclimatizing users to the new taskbar in general in Windows 7, and just generally making users feel more comfortable with their new OS.

Finally this option represents the minimalist approach to the taskbar.  Often times I worked with ‘auto-hide’ the taskbar in Windows XP, which would essentially hide the taskbar from view until the user hovered over the very bottom portion of the screen.  In essence this is the same, only the windows button, clock and ’show’ desktop button (which I made significantly larger from its default size in order to facilitate use) are able to be viewed at all times.  The one problem I had with the auto-hide feature in the past was that I hated to lose the clock from view so this rectifies that minor problem.  When a user would hover over the bottom section, the taskbar could fly out into any of the previously mentioned concepts above.

We are reaching a point with our technology where it is not enough simply to provide the user with a small amount of options for minor changes to how things work.  It is now expected that the user be able to customize things to their liking, and to do so with relative ease.  Many types of consumers need to be accommodated for, especially with regards to User Interfaces, but giving them some of the power to customize the product can help lessen the burden for designers.

Finally, with regards to yesterday’s post about how Microsoft Office and Notepad should both be using ‘tabs’ by now, I created two quick concepts on what that could look like.  They would easily allow a user to flip between open documents, while reducing the overall number of programs open, and thus improving the overall PC performance.