With the proliferation of touchscreens and a hardware revival driven by internet technologists, Industrial Design is at risk of becoming irrelevant.
How can Industrial Design engage with the technology, user experience and software communities to help create harmony across physical products and digital services?
From research with 30+ Industrial Designers, User Experience designers and technologists, I concluded that the divide can be broken down across a series of axes and bridged by connecting, calibrating and collaborating.
A cut-down Industrial Designer oriented version of a longer 45 minute presentation for Interactions 14.
3. 3years
Local leader
Interaction Design
Association
L o n d o n
Subjects over 3 years
Internet of Things
Future of publishing
Urban environment
Smart materials
Mobility / Automotive
Clinical applications
!
Upcoming…
Smart home
Music interfaces
Consumer healthcare
4. I want a future where physical
products and digital services
work in harmony
22. Digital designers
User Experience for web,
GUI expertise
Software technologists
Understand infrastructure
and web services
Makers
Prototype, and play with
combining technologies
Graphical User Interfaces
Systems thinking
Human behaviour & experience
Web technology
Data
Infrastructure
Prototyping
Human behaviour
Connection with the arts
Mike Kuniavsky, author of Smart Things Matt Webb, Berg Kate Hartman, artist, technologist, educator OCAD
Digital natives seem to
be driving the future
42. Objects, like apps, are
becoming transient — like
kettles that don’t last or
phones we replace regularly
!
Jeremy Offer
Design Director, Great Fridays
Objects
becoming
transient
44. UX is very much focused
on the near term — it’s less
reliant on supply chains
!
Mark Delaney
Head of Design Forward, Nokia
UX focuses on
the short term
45. Software design often
begins later in the cycle.
!
You’re given a spec of
controls and it’s very hard
to adjust the hardware in
the midst of development
without long delays.
!
Nick Myers
Director User Experience Design,
Fitbit
Software
added in later
46. Different delivery
timeframes
18 months+
3 months+ initially
Then monthly, weekly or daily
Hardware
Software
Problem
framing Tooling
Tuning
production
Manufacturing
development
!
Ideation
!
Design
development
R C D
!
Production
2-6W 4-8W 4-8W 26W 12W 3W 4-8W
C D C D C D RCD RCD
Research
Concept
Design
RCD RCD RCD RCD RCD RCD RCD RCD
48. UX has done a pretty good
job of making itself
complicated in a short
period of time with all the
different sub-disciplines: IA,
IxD, etc.
!
The more
compartmentalised, the
worse the result.
!
Marcus Hoggarth
Industrial Design Director, Native
UX is confusing
58. Offer Mindset Language Tools Time
ID Industrial Design
Physical
UX Digital
User Experience
Product Design
Mechanical Engineering
Ergonomics
CMF
Product visualisation
Interaction Design
Information Architecture
Content Strategy
User Research
Visual Design
Experience strategy
60. Offer Mindset Language Tools Time
What separates us?
Bespoke
vs.
Universal &
documented
!
Design
+
Experience
Mechanical
vs.
Theoretical
!
!
Solving
problems
+
Making
solutions
Manufacturing
vs.
Modelling
!
!
Researching
+
Sketching
+
Prototyping
Hardware
vs.
Software
!
!
Understanding
people
+
Conceiving
solutions
Long term
vs.
Short term
!
!
Fast-paced
+
Immediate
interaction
61. Offer Mindset Language Tools Time
What unites us?
Bespoke
vs.
Universal &
documented
!
Brand
+
Design
+
Experience
Mechanical
vs.
Theoretical
!
!
Solving
problems
+
Making
solutions
Manufacturing
vs.
Modelling
!
!
Researching
+
Sketching
+
Prototyping
Hardware
vs.
Software
!
!
Understanding
people
+
Conceiving
solutions
Long term
vs.
Short term
!
!
Fast-paced
+
Immediate
interaction
62. How can we bridge the
physical-digital divide?
63. How can we bridge the
physical-digital divide?
We need to
Connect / Calibrate / Collaborate
64. How can we bridge the
physical-digital divide?
We need to
Connect / Calibrate / Collaborate
Find the common ground
Connect on a personal level
Respect differences
65. How can we bridge the
physical-digital divide?
We need to
Connect / Calibrate / Collaborate
Adapt ourselves
Adapt our processes
Translate our language
!
66. How can we bridge the
physical-digital divide?
We need to
Connect / Calibrate / Collaborate
Unite on common purpose
Share between teams
Prototype together
!
67. Find common ground
Connect on a personal level
Respect differences
Connect
Offer Mindset Language Tools Time
68. Hardware is appropriately
named because it’s hard...
!
...It’s a long, hard, painful,
expensive process
!
... It requires a long term
commitment to a design
!
Robert Brunner
Partner, Ammunition
(the guy who hired Jony Ive)
Hardware is hard
69. Software is slippery
1. Hidden impacts from changes
2. Multiple releases
3. Integration challenges
4. Multiple platforms
5. Legacy code
!
Some large organisations have terrible legacy
code — it can take months to change a word or
button on a site
70. Find common ground
Connect on a personal level
Respect differences
Break down
language barriers
Adapt
our skills
Adapt our
processes
Connect
Calibrate
Offer Mindset Language Tools Time
71. Adapt our skills and teams
Shifter Hybrid Partner Neutral leader
Moving from ID-to-UX Blending skills across ID + UX ID + UX working closely
together
Solution agnostic leadership
+
72. No
Learn skills, but don’t
expect to do it all
Yes
Find ways to work with
specialists to create
excellence
Maybe
Rare few able to do this
Are you ready to walk
away from the craft?
Maybe
ID to UX is possible, but
the other way is tougher
especially for seniors
Shifter Hybrid Partner Neutral
ID + UX working closely
together
Partner or shift
+
73. Each approach has it's
own value, but close that
gap and the future will
happen quicker and better
!
Duncan Fitzsimons
Founder, Vitamins
Close the
horizon gap
74. 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Digital focuses
on shorter term
Horizon gap
75. Find common ground
Connect on a personal level
Respect differences
Break down
language barriers
Adapt
our skills
Adapt our
processes
Connect
Calibrate
Collaborate
Unite on a common purpose Share regularly
Prototype together
Develop shared
vocabulary
Offer Mindset Language Tools Time
76. I’ve found the best way
to get integration is to
get away from the
features and unite on
the higher goals
!
Scott Jenson
Product Strategy, Google
Unite on a
common purpose
77. We structure projects so
industrial designers,
interaction designers,
mechanical engineers, and
strategists can do the
research together.
!
David Sherwin
Interaction Design Director, Frog
Research
together
Photograph by Misha Miller
78. Share regularly
At Palm, we did show and
tells across ID and UX. IDs
would bring their models and
we would offer suggestions
and opinions. We would bring
our interface concepts or
prototypes and they would
share their ideas too.
!
Kim Lenox
Former Director of User Experience, Lunar
79. We prototype in physical
and digital - it's easy to do
fast, and there is a lot to be
said for tangible design - it
might not be shippable, but
it is experiential and
experimental
!
Duncan Fitzsimons
Co-founder, Vitamins
Prototype
together