The way we make technology is flipped.
September 18, 2018 Newsletter
In Cars
I’ve been thinking about cars a lot lately. Truthfully, I think about cars all the time. Living in the tiny city of San Francisco (49 miles square!) which is also a transportation laboratory does that. Ride sharing has only increased congestion. And there will be scooters again soon. I’m excited to see what rolls out next summer.
Cars are so central to how we exist that it seems impossible to envision a future without them. At least in the US, it seems like all visions for the future begin with “so, what will cars be like?” Buckminster Fuller was thinking about cars of the future back in the 30s, a museum in Nashville built one, so we could see how wonky and terrifying it is. Designer Bryan Boyer who is working around the topic of civic futures asks whether designers are letting autonomous vehicles shape future cities?
Ikea has an R&D arm called Space10 in Copenhagen. (Who knew? Are they fighting Elon Musk?) And they’ve come up with some concepts for autonomous vehicles, including a bedroom on wheels to allow long-distance travel without the high carbon footprint of an airplane. But that’s a train right? Last year, Paris had a day without cars, which looked pretty fun.
In tangentially-related-to-bikes news…today, I learned about Freddie Oversteegen a Dutch resistance fighter. “With Hannie Schaft, a one time law student with fiery red hair, they sabotaged bridges and rail lines with dynamite, shot Nazis while riding their bikes, and donned disguises to smuggle Jewish children across the country and sometimes out of concentration camps.” Where is the movie? Well, a Twitter pal let me know there is a Dutch movie about Hannie, Het Meisje Met Het Rode Haar, The Girl with the Red Hair (1981). Can we get Patty Jenkins on this?
— Erika Hall (@mulegirl)
Good Design is Situationally Correct
The way we make technology is flipped. We rush to deploy before we understand why we’re launching. Instead of starting with people, we create an app and then use that app or tool as a lens for understanding people. We resort to research to validate decisions that have already been made. We’d rather race to build the wrong thing than talk to each other. Bringing stakeholders into a project takes time away from the making and feels like a cost rather than a benefit.
The reason prototype-and-test is so tempting is because it feels efficient. Instead of being stuck with hand-wavy conversations about people you can avoid all that and just derive an understanding of how users work through how they interact with technology.
But constantly iterating and experimenting on a user interface ultimately hurts the people we’re trying to help — users. If instead you start from a clear model from the get-go you can iterate in ways that maintain that model that you created with intention.
Good design is situationally correct. By taking the time to model a user’s context in the world with engagement paths you can meet users where they are.
What’s great about this approach is you can use it at any point in a product lifecycle. Start by asking:
- Who are you making this product or service for?
- What are they doing already?
On October 5th you can learn this approach at Mule. We’ll send a pre-survey to compile examples ahead of time so register now.
— Larisa Berger (@berglar)
In The Gallery
We are currently showing the beautiful gouache paintings of San Francisco-based artist, Gina M. Contreras. Her solo show, Loud Voices In Tiny Spaces features a series of paintings about the spaces she has occupied throughout her life. Her opening party on September 14th was a HUGE success and she sold every single one of her paintings! Don’t worry if you missed the party- her work will still be on exhibit until October 26th.
We’ll also be hosting a special Drink & Draw night in the gallery with her on Thursday, October 11th. All mediums and skill levels are welcome. Hang out in the gallery to see the show, have a couple of drinks, and talk to Gina and other artists about their work. RSVP here.
