Data Design and the Autonomous Economy, with Matthew Falla

An interaction designer and the co-founder of Parallel shares some of his hacks from Encode 2019

Matthew Falla from Parallel, speaking at Encode 2019, London.

This article is an excerpt from the Encode 2019 Festival Guide, and it’s part of our ‘Encode Hacks’ series that celebrates some of the stunning speakers and contributors who were part of our latest event.

We asked Matthew Falla from Parallel to share some of his hacks at Encode 2019 and here’s what he had to say.

As technologies like machine learning, blockchains, knowledge graphs, and the internet of things converge, we will see the automation of many more human activities. — Matt Falla

One of the key takeaways of Matt’s talk at Encode 2019 was that “It is safe to say the technology will come. There is no shortage of incentives that will drive people to succeed in the endeavour. What has yet to be determined is what the rules of the game should be. If we want agency in this new world, we need to design ways for humans to understand it and to maintain oversight and control.”

Which of your projects has defined you as a data design studio / practitioner, and why?

Whilst the new consultancy Parallel has recently just launched, I‘ll refer back to Signal Noise for this question. Back then, it was probably a self-initiated site we produced quite early on, called transferwindow.info. It visualised the buying and selling of players between major European football clubs and analysed whether they saw a return on their investment. The project was intended as a calling card for the studio and we consciously wanted to create a visualisation that would provide something new and previously unseen within the worlds of sport and business. It gave us a canvas to showcase the design approach of the studio — novel information architectures, bespoke visualisation methods, and motion design that supported understanding through meaningful transitions. The project really helped us to open clients’ eyes as to what was possible.

Ford Smart Mobility commissioned Signal Noise to design and implement a compelling data visualisation promoting road safety and illustrating how big data can help reduce accidents. The dataset used to create the generative visuals consists of 40 million data points of 100 dimensions each (image courtesy of Matthew Falla).

Can you provide a practice hack that you’ve gleaned from your personal experience working in dataviz design?

For me, a successful piece of data design should feel like it’s having a conversation with the viewer. The more complex and exploratory the visualisation, the longer and richer the dialogue becomes. As a data designer, you are the voice of the visualisation. The first question you should be asking is, “what do you want to know?” Once you’re clear on that, you can begin considering the best visual approach and you’ll have a criterion to assess whether the design is successful.

How are you currently using data in your design practice and how would you like to use it in the future?

We all know the world is becoming increasingly automated and data-driven. I am interested in the role that design can play in helping people see and navigate these complex, data-rich environments. Rather than working with specific datasets, with Parallel, we are currently exploring how data presents opportunities for new products, services, and business models built around knowledge graphs and autonomous agents — and how humans make sense of them.

As machines start to become more aware of the world, and more assertive within it, people need maps for a new terrain.

In the future, with Parallel we are looking to expand on this thinking, designing systems that might combine varied data sources to bridge the gap between the digital and the physical, and between the human and the synthetic.

‘Trader Radar’ visualises risk patterns and indicators in traders’ communications and their professional networks to enable investigators to discover high-risk individuals and monitor trends (image courtesy of Matthew Falla).

Who is Matthew Falla?

Matthew Falla is an RCA-trained interaction designer, with over fifteen years of experience innovating at the intersection of design, technology, and data. He is a founding Partner at Parallel — an innovation consultancy helping product leaders develop original propositions based on simulations and synthetic environments. Across a career spanning boutique management consulting, consumer electronics, and creative agencies, Matt’s focus has been to bring award-winning design into the world of business, providing him with hands-on experience in sectors such as financial services, media, technology, and manufacturing. Matt was a designer-in-residence at the London Design Museum and has exhibited work and spoken internationally. He was previously the founder and managing director of data design agency, Signal Noise.