Key Takeaways of UCAN 2018
It’s such a pleasure to participate in UCAN 2018 event, UCAN is a huge design event held by Alibaba, during the event, many influential designers will be invited to give a inspiring speech, and so you will seat in the front row to learned how advanced designers design and how they think of the meaning of design. You also get the chance to communicate with other designers and expanding your social zone.
Since the event is proving so much values, it becomes very popular right away. I didn’t get the chance to participate in last year’s event simply because I can’t get even one ticket, and I am so grateful that my company is give me a chance to join this year’s event. There are massive informations given during these two days event, and here are some of my takeaways I wound love to share with you.
Artificial intelligence is here to help expending the possibility of design
Will artificial intelligence replace designers in the future?
The frequent asked question, also many designers’ nightmare is that:
“Will artificial intelligence replace designers in the future?”
My answer will be “It depends on how you define a designer? “ Because if you had the knowledge of what AI technology is capable of, you will know that it totally can fulfill the basic design requirements, such as exporting different layouts or choosing best match of colors for banners, or even producing full amount of Chinese characters from small amount of sample for making a font, and so if your job is all about making simple design works that requires only few or no creativity, than yes, you will be replaced easily.
The problem and the limitation of AI technology is that, it’s all calculated data, despite that it can be optimized by deep learning or other methods, there still have the limitation of it. I believe the main purpose of AI technology is to help designers to expand the possibility of design by saving valuable time for designers. Just let computer do the simple work, designer will have more time to explore new and interesting things, and push the edge of creative design.
The boundaries between different categories is become blurred
Design itself is evolving as well. Today, thanks to AI technology and the progress of IT industry, which unlock many new scenes that we are not familiar with or dreamed of before, and making the boundaries between different categories becoming blurred. Such as building a new retail store, designers should have the basic knowledge of interior design, branding design, interface design and graphic design. Therefore I think the nightmare of designers is not being replaced by AI technology, but loosing the ability to learn knowledge from different categories as the daily basis.
Big data and Graphical data are helping to discover opportunity from new angles
Another thing AI technology and computer could be helpful is that, by using big data, we can collect and analysis informations at a larger scale, and by using graphical data, we can demonstrate and read informations like never before. With these advantages, designers can discover and explore the opportunity from new angles which don’t have the chance to explore before.
Design should mean so much more than design
Design is made for fulfilling the need of business
The relationship between science, engineering, art and design is not mutual independence but mutual influence anymore, which is pushing designer to reconsider the value of design. Design should be able to support business to grow. Since the business structure and environment is changing, we have to launch the design industrialization.
Design industrialization is all about creating ecosphere of design, in order to increase the power of design. Take Alibaba for example, by creating ecosphere of Alibaba design(you can see what included in the ecosphere, it’s a giant giant ecosphere for sure), many store owner will follow the design system, and so increasing the unify and the popularity of Alibaba design, and decreasing the time it needs to make all the design sources. It’s a win-win for both Alibaba and the store owners.
Design is made for all kinds of people
A well-considered design should be Inclusive, democratic and sustainable. We have to notice that there are not only one kind of people, there are people with different background, they come from different countries, they earn different amount of money, they have different interests, and all the conditions are having an effect on their requirements and decisions.
The challenge for designer is not making one solution that can fit everybody, but making different solutions that can fit every individuals’ need. For example, in the shopping app, we don’t show a same recommendation list to everybody, by learning the background of the user, we produce a specific recommendation list for each individuals that actually interest them.
Design is made to answer the original demands
“The original demand has never been changed, the technology and experience do.”
Starts from the very beginning, somewhere like ancient time, human beings had the requirement and motivation to capture the wonderful moments. and this original demand has never been changed, but with the time goes by, the technology is keep processing and change the experience and behavior of how to capture the wonderful moments.
In the past, we only can go to the photo store to take photos, and wait for the photos being printed with papers, in that time, the experience is about giving life a sense of ritual. After the invention of consumer camera, the original demand is still capture the moments, but now we can do it by ourselves. Time keep passing by, a little bit later, we have camera phone, which allows us to take photos even videos anywhere and everywhere. Today, thanks to the progress of technology, we can use AR/VR devices to go into the environment which exactly the one that being captured, the original demand is still capture the moments, but today, we can get a much immersive experience.
The leader of the speecher once told her, “Thank you for getting us inspired and keeping us honest.” As you can see, the original demand is always the same, but now, since the technology is keep evolving, the experience we can provide to the users is keep changing and upgrading as well.
The job for designers is to find these original demand, try our best to use the technology that is available in the time, and provide the most delicate, possible and innovate experience to satisfy the original demands from users.
Interactive mode is progressing
The develop progress of interactive mode has always been pursuing the realm of having no user interface and using most natural gestures. Sadly, the technology wasn’t mature enough back in time, but now it’s changing. Do you believe that just about 30 years ago, you only can control your computer by typing a string of codes! A little later, the mouse and visualization user interface (VGI) are being introduced. Then, we meet mobile devices, which allow us to use finger to touch right on the object we mean to select. But there are some scenarios that use touch screen to interact with is not suitable, such as controlling long distance objects, therefore, the interactive mode has been progressed. Voice control is one of the most valued interactive modes in industry, because it just much natural for certain scenarios. Voice control is definitely not the end, the interactive mode will keep progressing, designers should be sensitive and always being eager to find a better solution for users.
Just right is comforting
Naoto Fukasawa is one of the best Japanese designers in my opinion, and I am so thrilled by having the chance to listen to his speech. The key principle of his design is called “Without thought”, which means you don’t need to think anything, but the products he designed is right there to fulfill your demand, and when you see the product, the feeling comes into your mind in a second, this is exactly how I think it suppose to be! He also calls it “Affordance”.
How to design a product that is just right for solving problem for user? The secret is to consider the whole things, which including interact behavior, people, environment and the product.
It’s hard to understand by words, lets see some examples. This is a night lamp designed by Naoto Fukasawa, the details we have to focus on are the plate and the in-off button. The natural behavior is like this: when you go home, you open the door, you put down the keys and turn on the light, then you go to relax. You can see the relationship in between, and now you will realize that why this night lamp is being designed in this way. the whole action is continuously: open the door- put down the keys- open the light. Here’s the question, what if the button is not designed slight above the plate, but placed down under the wire? You will have to bend down your knees to turn on the light, and the action is broken.
Heres another example, after you fill the bowl with rice by using the spoon, you close the case of rice cooker, than you need a place to placed the spoon. It just make sense to have a place to out the spoon in the top of the rice cooker, isn’t it?
Perhaps the most famous design work from Naoto Fukasawa, the CD Player. when you put the disk in, you pull the the wire, the disk will start to spin and play the music, it’s like a fan producing the air of music, and the air of music is now floating around the space.
Naoto Fukasawa had also redefined the meaning of”Outline” What’s the outline? Usually, we will consider it as the contour of a object, but Naoto Fukasawa has a different opinion. He encourages us to focus on the junction between the product, the user, the behavior and the environment, that’s the outline he believed.
For example, when he designing a chair, he is not designing the shape of the chair, he observe the environment where the chair will be placed, he observe the objects in the space, he observe the gestures of how user will seat on the chair, than the outline appeared, the shape of chair appeared naturally. If you take a look at the products he designed, you will find out that everything feels so comfortable and easy-to-fit in the environment, with no shape edges or conflict colors to disturb your vision.
The best design is the one that you hardly find the trace of design when you see it, but you will easily feel it when you touch it, use it and experience it.
Designers should always have the mission in mind
What’s the difference between junior designer and senior designer? It’s not about the age, the experience or the aptitude, its about the way you consider the meaning of design. Being a designer, our job is to make products that can actually make impacts on users, impacts like solving the problems, changing the ways users interact, or making products enjoyable. In the path of achieving this missions, we will face with some difficulties along the way, senior designers know how to deal with it smartly. Designers should always have the mission of helping users’ life easier, carry this feeling to do design, and we will know that everything is worth it when the outcome appear. Just like the speecher says:“Design make things useful, useable, enjoyable and sustainable, it is just Great!.”
During this two days design event, I have learned so much and see so much, and the most important is that, it give me a peek of how technology could do today, and how it make the impact on designers. My mentor always said, be a smart designer, not a hard-working designer, I have a different understanding today. I believe that there will have some new design thinking to be shared in next years event, and I just can’t wait!
