The Brain Dance. Week 3–4: Jan 16–29, 2017
Another bi-weekly list… and quite a few articles that I picked on Design, User Experience and Technology I hope you like.
Next week I promise to go back to weekly Brain Dance lists, yeah… I do :)
The Brain Dance: Week 3–4
January 16–29, 2017
Recommended book of the week
“Technology Vs Humanity: The coming clash between man and machine”.
by Gerd Leonhard .
2016. FutureScapes. 184 Pages.
Rating: 5/5
In a moment where we’re being bombed with dozens and dozens of articles about the rise of Artificial Intelligence, this book is a fresh approach to the topic. Instead of focusing on just a dystopian view of the future to come or focus only on the power and possibilities of what technology will bring, this book it’s written with the objective of making us aware of what’s our role now that technology is unstoppable. It brings the humanist point of view and when you finish the read it’s impossible to not have picked a side in this “battle” between technology and humanity.
The book depicts plausible futures, some of them spiced with dark realities, but just to express the point of view of the author, Greg Leonhard, on what’s the impact of technology in our near future and how important is to understand the role of humanity and how to be proactive instead of letting technology take over our lives.
It’s not only the ethic role of those who put technology out there (it’s not only about the fact we can do it, but why we’re doing it) but our way of using it. We can see it today, how addicted we are to our devices, to the internet, so open to new technologies (VR, AR, AI, IoT,…), and things are going to get much more intense in the upcoming years: technology will grow exponentially much faster than we can embrace so it’s vital we understand how to be prepared and have a responsible attitude to handle it.
It’s about prioritizing, and I like this term the author defines here, Androrithms vs Algorithms, those traits that make us humans: imagination, inefficiencies, mistakes, etc., not letting perfect technology take away that from ourselves.
Technology will make our lives easier and much more convenient, it’s like you won’t have to worry about certain things, like being in heaven on earth, but perhaps that heaven is actual hell… hellven as the author describes on this book that I strongly recommend.
Article Recommendations
Design
Digital Storytelling — a look at the last 12 months
This is an interesting article and it’s something I want at some point in the upcoming weeks to write about as well: Digital storytelling. This one showcases some interesting ones in the last 12 months. With the “digital” label somehow in crisis —on that note,… we changed our company name last week— it’s interesting to see the rise of VR here. Is that the only hope for digital?, what will bring the future for us who grew professionally embracing digital as a job?
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Ideo Says The Future Of Design Is Circular
This is a serious topic, Circular Economy. The way companies are built, the way products are made are linear… or not? a modern view on how to improve business. A very comprehensive design guide from IDEO http://www.circulardesignguide.com/ I have to give a proper read to find all the insights that are hidden here.
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What Apple, Google, And Tesla Get Wrong
Interesting point of view on what those monsters are doing wrong. Focusing too much on design and not users, or that never ending game of the “constant beta” model or giving too much power to robots and AI. And as well, pointing out a company that wasn’t invited to the party as the innovator…
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Why You Should Quit Your Job to Design for VR
Red flag here…
Ok, I get it and I agree, really… VR is here to stay and it’ll play an important role in the near future. But saying “quit your job” and embrace VR just because it’s an exciting place to explore seems a bit too much. But hey, read this and choose your path, I’ll try to have an holistic vision of everything and not bet everything on one technology…
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Plasma design system
I always like to read how others create and document their work, always interesting and insightful. In this case how the guys from WeWork created a design system.
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One Design Framework to Rule Them All
Interesting point of view on the dichotomy iOS Vs. Android and how there are differences and similarities (I think everyday getting closer).
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The story of a designer conquering mathematics.
“I hated maths”, this is how this article starts. I could have written that same line but it’s not that I hated it, it’s I didn’t understand it. I thought I could ignore them until I started to work in the industry and then, regretted so much my hatred to maths… So, ok, “The story of a designer conquering mathematics” gives me hope and envy at the same time.
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How to use colors in UI Design
Other type of articles that always read with skepticism but I end nodding my head in agreement. Very detailed and interesting.
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8 New Graphic Design Trends That Will Shine In 2017
Lists are not over yet! Some graphic design trends that will be everywhere in this 2017 we started almost one month ago…
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This 100-Year-Old Dutch Movement Shaped Web Design Today
This article talks about De Stijl, a dutch design movement that, apparently, influenced and shaped web design today. Ok, yes, De Stijl has great principles but are they something we pulled from there or it happened naturally, almost by instinct?
User Experience
The End Of User-Friendly Design
Great article on the rise of conversational interfaces and how they will transform (not “end”, come on…) user-friendly design and, therefore, us. It’s closely connected to the main topic of the book I recommended above.
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Designing a product with mental health issues in mind
One of the best articles of the week, some good thoughts on designing products taking into consideration mental health issues.
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Why Designers Should be More Like Gyms
I love analogies…
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The Evolution of UI/UX Designers Into Product Designers
I tend to think the term “Product Designer” is a label some designers like to use to look more interesting or into the realm of “I design useful things people want to use”. Ok, whatever… This article can help you to understand some terms. I’ll keep thinking a designer is a designer without labels and it depends on the skills you want to master you’ll go further.
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Weak Words Kill Experiences
The power of words and those subtle differences using some or others can have a deep impact on what you’re trying to get out of your experiences.
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Why Design is Not Problem Solving + Design Thinking Isn’t Always the Answer
The value of understanding, the value of strategy, the value of the causes not just the focus on solving problems. Nice read.
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When the Mac was introduced 33 years ago, people thought graphical user interfaces were a real problem
It’s fun to see how right or wrong we could be when a new technology or design system is released. I saw some of my reactions when the first iPad appeared back in 2010 last week and they were pretty much like those reacting about Mac GUI 33 years ago…
Technology & Artificial Intelligence
Four Things You Need to Know About Connected Toys
A few friends of mine gave “smart toys” for their children last Christmas. I admit I’m thinking as well to give one to mine one day but there’s something I need to understand first and it’s if that’s actually going to be a good toy for my son. This article from R/GA explains what we have to know about it.
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Technology Forces Us To Do Things We’re Bad At. Time To Change How Design Is Done
As well connected with the topic of “Technology Vs. Humanity”, this article describes the impact of technology, in this case driverless vehicles, on our behavior and explains our role and the consequences of it.
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IoT Needs a Makeover
There’s an app for everything… and the Internet of Things needs, in most of the cases, stop and ask why a product, app or thing exists.
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Designing the Internet of Things
Read this after the previous article, you’ll find here some key principles when designing new connected things.
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Don’t Design Our Future from Pop Culture
Last couple of years I was presenting with my buddy Claudio Guglieri a talk about the impact of movies on the future of design. Movies, and pop culture, serve the story they are telling and don’t want to go much beyond that, so if we take those movies as an inspiration it’s fine but don’t get too influenced by them…
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The AI that learns our habits and knows when people cheat
Minority Report’s precogs were the magic behind the technology, they were able to predict future crimes. Nowadays those precogs are artificial intelligence. This article from my always-open-on-a-browser-tab BBC Future explains how AI can learn from our habits when writing and predict when people cheat.
Miscellaneous
Journalism That Stands Apart
This report is a manifesto on modern journalism from NY Times. Technology, Sociopolitical context and the factors that define the current context where events happen and what’s their point of view on how to approach the future of journalism.
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Why Amazon beating Netflix to a Best Picture Oscar nomination matters
This is big, very big. We know about the power of the platform model and how they changed the rules of economy. Seeing how Amazon got one of their original movies aspiring to win the Oscar for the Best Picture could be the fact that reveals the movie industry is as well a territory where platforms will rule in the future (aka… present). This is exciting.
