Design Intelligence #9: Think different
Research notes on tech, ecology, design, and design futures. This time: original thinking reclaims its power
The idea: A new weird
The tech industry has been glorying in the rise of weird, experimental new hardware lately. Economic factors that could be cooling down innovation - a slightly cooled M&A market and stricter regulation, which are making 'acquihire as an exit strategy' more challenging to start-ups - are being more than compensated for by the energising potential of AI, which has sparked a rising trend for intriguing products that try new ideas and dare to be original. Think the Rabbit R1, Humane's Ai Pin, Matt Webb's Poem/1, or the Limitless pendant. (Some of these products are also the result of Apple’s design team steadily leaving the business and being available to apply their considerable skills, knowledge and clout to new ventures).
This energy can also be seen in wider entrepreneurship: in the US, there are now more start-ups than there were pre-2008 recession. Business is enlivening - a shift that's been credited in large part to policy choices by the Biden administration
There’s appetite for new ideas, weirdness, and just trying - even when, yes, it might not work. Earlier this year, former Google X designer Nick Foster wrote of the importance of 'stumbling Bambis'. “Genuinely ‘new things’ are almost always unresolved, unrefined and uncertain,” he pointed out. “They aren’t optimized, their true purpose is unclear, their features are underdeveloped and their propositions haven’t yet crystallized.”
Speaking in Fast Company, industrial designer Ti Chang said recently, “I hope for the future [of industrial design] that things get weirder… ultimately, we need designers and creatives with the conviction and the courage to go after what they want to make and to have that courage to make the things they want to see in the world.”
Last year, Kim Boutin explored the idea of Glitch Design - design that sets out to “glitch digital worlds”. In the proposal, Boutin writes: “We stand for a frictional digital experience in order to explore unprecedented creative routes to escape the flaws of standardized design… Pursuit of effectiveness shouldn’t be the only way to design. Otherwise, we might remain in a barren world, left without any possibility for creativity and experimentation.”
We can track the new weird across wider creative culture too. In cinema, we are finally exiting the long decade where Marvel dominated releases, with cookie-cutter superhero films that provided the dictionary definition of diminishing returns. We now get to revel in a film landscape that's being shaped by A24, the indie hit-maker that wields increasing influence on people's cinematic taste.
In 2023, Universal was the most successful studio at the box office; it's also the studio that won most Oscars this year. It did this by releasing a lot of films, but also by diversifying the genres and types of films in its lineup, including plenty of original releases from original thinkers like Jordan Peele and the Daniels. This is not only needed, it's wanted: a recent survey of Millennials and Gen Z found that 74% want to watch original content, and 71% want content produced by “independent and small-time creators”.
To quote a recent post by Nigerian philosopher Báyò Akómoláfé, “The highway no longer leads to interesting places. It's time to wade in the water.”
📄 Research notes
Sci-fi becomes real: a gene-edited pig kidney was transplanted into a human for the first time, in the US, last month
Nvidia’s digital twin technology Omniverse is enabling cutting-edge product visualisations on the Apple Vision Pro. Lots of design potential here
Live biometrics from cyclists, collected by WHOOP’s wearable, will be used during coverage of upcoming cycling races, including the Tour de France, to “elevate storytelling”
New York City is getting its first pocket forest this month, which will be planted by volunteers. With 1000 native plants, the “green infrastructure” will increase the city's biodiversity and is a small step towards becoming a more climate-resilient city
“We seem to be venturing into an era of hyper-tech-buying”: the rise in e-waste is currently 5x the rise in capacity for recycling it
🏞️ Interesting products
Developed by Modem and Panter&Tourron, Terra is an AI-powered pebble-shaped device that generates “improvised trails” for “mindful wandering”, with haptics and illuminated compass arrows providing directions
Night Club, developed by Liminal Space, brings sleep health information to night shift workers in the form of a portable toolbox or a walk-in installation
Calm Strips attach to surfaces to add fidget-relieving texture for sensory seekers
🧍🏻♂️ Watching
John Maeda’s 2024 Design In Tech report is titled Design Against AI. Watch the rapid version of his thoughtful, information-packed SXSW talk here https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5zFOSQDpby8