Five Books to Prepare for the Future of Design
A reading list for meaningful design at scale
As 2018 winds down, it’s time to start reflecting on the Year in Design and what comes next. This year I’ve had the privilege to travel and connect with design leaders across industries, co-chairing the Design for Inclusivity Industry Summit in St. Louis, joining a panel on evolving visions at Google’s UX Leadership Summit, taking the stage at AdobeMAX on the future of experience design, speaking with students in the School of Visual Arts’ Design for Social Innovation MFA program, and contributing to a conversation on ethical design at FastCo Innovation Festival. Through all the conversations, Q&A, prep, and reflection, I’ve found myself referencing a handful of texts that hold relevance for this moment in design history.
And what defines this moment? In short, a massive cultural shift in how we connect, work, and create. In our “always-on” modern world, the scale and impact of technology is greater than ever and requires thoughtful design. Not to dictate behavior, but to guide with empathy and innovate in a way that respects the people who rely on our products every day.
Here’s a list of what I’m reading to go beyond the screen and into a more conscious, intentional place as we head into the future of design (and speaking of intention, might I recommend you find them at your local bookstore). From more than 100 years ago to the modern day, these books have a prescient take on the future of design at scale.
The Jungle
“I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.” In 1904 Upton Sinclair published a novel to expose the dire working conditions in the meatpacking industry. The most powerful public outcry, however, was over the descriptions of the meat quality, leading to a federal response and the creation of the FDA. The lessons still resonate today and speak to the responsibility we have as designers to bring attention to ethical design. Fiction tells truths about the world around us — we need to imagine the “what if,” the good and the bad, and call it out. From biased AI to cognitive overload, there are real-world ramifications within decisions made by designers. We need to practice the same passion that drives an author like Sinclair to take creative action. The future requires design ethicists.
Design for the Real World
Back in 1971, Victor Papanek saw the writing on the wall. His book calls for responsible design and consciousness in what we create. But where Papanek’s arguments focus on the finite resources of planet Earth, I can see the argument evolving into the attention economy for 2019 and beyond. There’s only so much time in a day, and technology is competing to fill it. Soon the inundation of social media and productivity apps will fall on designers to solve. Our creative power will be to ask why and say no — not to make things for the sake of making. We have a responsibility to design for cognitive sustainability.
The Zero Marginal Cost Society
What do you design if everything is free? Jeremy Rifkin describes how the technological revolution has radically changed the economics of what we create. When it’s so easy to make and distribute digital experiences, we can easily overwhelm customers. People have abundant access, choice, and social capital, all of it with a click. What we use is more often described as an experience than an actual thing — we saw this in the subtle shift from “product design” to “UX design.” Competing in this future market, according to Rifkin, will take place in the “collaborative commons,” where people care about transparency, openness, and sharing. To design for that future requires a recalibration of what it means to compete.
Who Owns the Future?
Another early visionary, Jaron Lanier’s 2014 book sounded the alarm on data autonomy and the importance of holding our online identity sacred — an issue that has dominated the news cycle since. As we become more connected to each other, who really benefits from those networks? And who’s left behind? It’s our job as designers to be attuned to the economic and sociological implications of our products.
The Innovator’s Dilemma
Sometimes you can do everything right and still get it wrong. Clayton M. Christensen defines the innovator’s dilemma — the challenge to scale meaningful technology. You can dream up a new product that makes sense within your company’s culture, business model, and future vision, and see it fall flat. When you design for millions, even billions, of customers, it’s difficult but critical to try to bring everyone along for the journey — to innovate but not alienate. This is an important lesson for designers same as business leaders: innovation is a delicate balance of daydreaming and practicality.
And if you must non-book,
Here’s a digital short list of modern thought leaders in responsible design:
Jaron Lanier, How we need to remake the internet
Amber Case, We are all cyborgs now
Tristan Harris, collected essays on design ethics
Father Paolo Benanti, Artifical Intelligence: A Brave New World?
Woodrow Hartzog, The term privacy doesn’t really mean anything
What are you reading around meaningful design? Leave a comment below.
