Erik Dahl discusses the role and skills of UX designers working in emerging technologies such as robotics, genomics, and connected environments. He argues that designers need to be able to work at different scales; tame complexity through frameworks and storytelling; design with empathy and humility; think systemically; collaborate; and create new interaction languages. The skills discussed aim to help designers address challenging problems in emerging fields.

1. UX Design for Emerging Tech
#ux4emtech
Erik Dahl
IASummit 14 eadahl@gmail.com
@eadahl

2. @eadahl
Open Office Hours
www.uxaxioms.com#ux4emtech

3. 1. THINKING THE UNTHINKABLE
2. HUMANIZING TECHNOLOGY
"Right now, today, we can't see the thing, at all, that's going to be the most important 100 years from now.”
- Carver Mead

4. www.uxaxioms.com
#uxaxioms

5. UX for Genomics, Robotics, and Connected Environments
Jonathan Follett, Editor
Designing
for Emerging
Technologies

6. Define Emerging Tech
Emerging Tech
www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2575515

7. UX for Genomics, Robotics, and Connected Environments
Jonathan Follett, Editor
Designing
for Emerging
Technologies
ROBOTICS
GENOMICS
CONNECTED ENVIRONMENTS

10. [ Open Humans Network ]

11. PROJECT CAPYBARA
#ux4emtech @eadahl

12. 15 people
+35
+20
+60
+45
+30 +75
TUESDAY
11:40AM -
11:50AM

17. LEARNING AND SCALING
UNDERSTANDING THROUGH MAKING
#ux4emtech @eadahl

18. WE CAN’T FORGET TO HUMANIZE
TECHNOLOGY IF WE ARE DEPLOYING
OUR EXPERIMENTS IN THE WORLD
#ux4emtech @eadahl

19. EMERGING TECHNOLOGY IS NOT BUILT
ENTIRELY ON TOP OF ESTABLISHED
FRAMEWORKS OR INFRASTRUCTURES
#ux4emtech @eadahl

20. PROJECT CAPYBARA
#ux4emtech @eadahl

21. WHAT IS THE DESIGNER’S
ROLE IN THE LANDSCAPE OF
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY?
#ux4emtech @eadahl

22. FASHION
VERSUS
INFRASTRUCTURE

23. Credit Illustration by Tim Enthoven http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/magazine/silicon-valleys-youth-problem.html

24. PACE LAYERS

30. FASHION
INFRASTRUCTURE

31. Designers working in Emerging Technology should have the ability to:
!
WORK AT DIFFERENT SCALES
#ux4emtech @eadahl

32. COMPLEXITY

33. COMPLEXITY
DESIGN
OPPORTUNITY
TIME
i
$

34. The
interaction states that every application has an inherent
amount of complexity. This complexity cannot be wished
away and has to be dealt with, either in product
development or in user interaction.
Larry Tesler, Xerox PARC

35. COMPLEX, BUT NOT COMPLICATED

36. Designers working in Emerging Technology should have the ability to:
!
TAME AND HARNESS COMPLEXITY
#ux4emtech @eadahl

37. TRANSPARENCY,
CONTEXT,
FRAMEWORKS

38. JOE BALLAY

39. IT IS IN ITS TRANSPARENCY
THAT IT FULFILLS ITS FUNCTION.

40. WE NEED TO
UNDERSTAND PEOPLE’S LIVES
IN A RATHER BROAD SENSE.

41. TECHNOLOGY IS
BECOMING MORE
DEEPLY EMBEDDED
IN OUR LIVES…

42. FITBIT ONE

43. Light
Strong
Direct
Indirect
Sudden
Sustained
WEIGHT SPACE TIME
LABAN MOVEMENT ANALYSIS

44. Light
Strong
Direct
Indirect
Sudden
Sustained
WEIGHT SPACE TIME
PUNCHING
LABAN MOVEMENT ANALYSIS

45. Light
Strong
Direct
Indirect
Sudden
Sustained
WEIGHT SPACE TIME
GLIDING
LABAN MOVEMENT ANALYSIS

46. LABAN MOVEMENT ANALYSIS
FLICKING:
WRINGING:
DABBING:
PUNCHING:
FLOATING:
SLASHING:
GLIDING:
PRESSING:
Flexible, Sudden, Light
Flexible, Sustained, Strong
Direct, Sudden, Light
Direct, Sudden, Strong
Flexible, Sustained, Light
Sudden, Strong, Flexible
Sustained, Light, Direct
Direct, Sustained, Strong

47. Designers working in Emerging Technology should have the ability to:
!
BE HUMBLE AND DESIGN FROM A
PLACE OF EMPATY AND HUMILITY
!
CREATE AND USE FRAMEWORKS
#ux4emtech @eadahl

48. SKILLS AND ATTITUDES
#ux4emtech @eadahl

49. +
FULL STACK UNICORN

50. SYNTHESIS OF MANY FIELDS
CONSTANTLY EVOLVING LANDSCAPE
Literacy of Materiality and Curiosity

51. COMPREHENSIVE DESIGNER
ARTIST + INVENTOR +
MECHANIC + OBJECTIVE ECONOMIST +
EVOLUTIONARY STRATEGIST

52. SELL YOUR EXPERTISE AND YOU
HAVE A LIMITED REPERTOIRE. SELL
YOUR IGNORANCE AND YOU HAVE AN
UNLIMITED REPERTOIRE
- RSW on Charles Eames

53. WE AREN’T EXPERTS.
WE ARE EXPERIMENTERS.
#ux4emtech @eadahl

54. Designers working in Emerging Technology should have the ability to:
!
CONSTANTLY LEARN, EXTEND YOURSELF
AND COLLABORATE WITH OTHERS
#ux4emtech @eadahl

55. EXPERIMENTS,
SYSTEMS,
VISION

56. THE MACROSCOPE
http://well-formed-data.net/archives/1027/worlds-not-stories

57. LOCAL & GLOBAL MAXIMA

59. EACH NEW DEVICE SHOULD
REDUCE THE COMPLEXITY OF THE
SYSTEM AND INCREASE THE VALUE OF
EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE ECOSYSTEM.
- Bill Buxton

60. KALEIDOSCOPE, NOT MACROSCOPE

61. VISION

64. Designers working in Emerging Technology should have the ability to:
!
THINK SYSTEMICALLY
!
LEARN THROUGH MAKING TOWARDS A
VISION OF THE FUTURE
#ux4emtech @eadahl

65. THE ALGORITHM IS THE UI

66. 20% change in activity at the door of the
primary bathroom of an elderly person
can predict a serious degradation in
health with 70% accuracy.

67. Designers working in Emerging Technology should have the ability to:
!
WORK BEYOND THE SCREEN INTO
ALGORITHMS, SYSTEMS, AND SERVICES
#ux4emtech @eadahl

68. NEW LANGUAGES

69. New Languages

70. Designers working in Emerging Technology should have the ability to:
!
CREATE NEW LANGUAGES
OF INTERACTION
#ux4emtech @eadahl

71. PROBLEM FINDING

72. If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended
on the solution, I would spend the first fifty-five minutes
determining the proper question to ask, for once I know
the proper question, I could solve the problem in less
than five minutes.
Albert Einstein

73. If I had eight hours to chop
down a tree, I’d spend six
sharpening my axe.
Abraham Lincoln

76. PROBLEM
SOLVERS
PROBLEM
FINDERS
HOW DO I DO
GOOD WORK?
WHAT IS
GOOD WORK?

77. Designers working in Emerging Technology should have the ability to:
!
IDENTIFY THE RIGHT PROBLEMS
TO SOLVE
#ux4emtech @eadahl

78. STORYTELLING

79. HARRY CREWS

80. Truth of the matter was, stories was everything and
everything was stories. Everybody told stories. It was a way of
saying who they were in the world. It was their understanding
of themselves. It was letting themselves know how
they believed the world worked; the right way and the way
that was not so right.

81. Designers working in Emerging Technology should have the ability to:
!
UNDERSTAND THE WORLD THROUGH
STORIES, AND TELL STORIES
THROUGH THE PRODUCTS WE MAKE
#ux4emtech @eadahl

82. Designers working in Emerging Technology should have the ability to:
#ux4emtech @eadahl
Understand and tell stories
Work at different scales
Tame and harness complexity
Be humble and design from a place of
empathy and humility
Create and use frameworks
Constantly learn, extend yourself and
collaborate with others
Think systemically
Learn through making towards a
vision of the future
Work beyond the screen into
algorithms, systems, and services
Create new languages
Identify the right problems to solve

83. 1. THINKING THE UNTHINKABLE
2. HUMANIZING TECHNOLOGY
"Right now, today, we can't see the thing, at all, that's going to be the most important 100 years from now.”
Carver Mead

84. THANKS!
I HOPE WE CAN CONTINUE THIS CONVERSATION.
#ux4emtech
Erik Dahl
IASummit 14 eadahl@gmail.com
@eadahl