“A thought, even a possibility, can shatter and transform us.” ― Nietzsche

We are living in a very exciting time for technology. As such, multiple conversations are happening right now around future technologies and their design and implementation.

Is Human-Centered Design failing the very same humans it is designed to cater for? What do Elon Musk, Jack Ma, and Steve Jobs have in common? How is AI taking over entry-level design functions? Where does futurism intercept with experience design?

German philosopher Nietzsche proposes that a thought or even a possibility can shatter and transform us. I can only hope that you too will harken unto a transformative path after this read, as such I too have journeyed.

As the title of this article suggests…a number of these topics are so intriguing that they are literally keeping me up at night! So, being the responsible human I am, I have decided to share my insomnia-inducing thoughts 😁. Enjoy!

1. Life Centric Design

Living-Centered Design is our approach to designing solutions for today’s greatest challenges. It allows us to address not only human needs, but the increasingly complex interdependencies that exist across all life. Cannon Design

I have started to see more and more conversations around Life Centered Design. For a long time, businesses and admittedly designers, have focused on Human-Centered Design, which was a great step towards creating better products, but unfortunately failed to address the ecosystem those humans are a part of.

Is a product really human-centered if the solution it provides harms the collective quality of life (future and present) of that very human? Probably not.

Thus, the Life-Centered Design framework aims to solve this problem by looking at design challenges through the entire ecosystem's lens. This approach paves the way for often difficult but pertinent discussions around systemic inequality, environmental and socio-economic change.

2. First Principles Thinking

“I think it’s important to reason from first principles rather than by analogy. The normal way we conduct our lives is we reason by analogy. [With analogy] we are doing this because it’s like something else that was done, or it is like what other people are doing. [With first principles] you boil things down to the most fundamental truths…and then reason up from there.” — Elon Musk

This one hit me like a tonne of bricks when I first heard it. First-principles thinking is a brilliant, unintuitive approach to problem-solving.

Frequently referred to as a physics-based approach, it aims to break problems or concepts down to their fundamental truths as a starting point…something we rarely do when we are trying to solve a problem. Typically, humans will reason by analogy; that is to say “this is how I know it’s been done before, so that’s how it should be.” Yet true innovation is often born from a first-principles approach.

Let’s do a quick exercise. I want you to find a path from A to Z in the image below in 30 seconds. As quickly as you can. Ready? Here it is…

Done? So, the image below is the solution that most people try to find. We have seen a maze solved like this several times, so it is baked into our minds as the go-to solution. The analogy here is “I have seen this before. It’s a maze, so I need to make my way through it to get from A to Z.”

Did you, however, consider this as a possible solution for getting from A to Z?

Why not? Simply because reasoning by analogy is our default state. We have seen mazes solved this way before, so we assume that’s how we need to solve them. In my instructions, I simply said find a path from A to Z. I didn’t say that it has to be through the maze, and yet our minds did what they do best…make assumptions based on our past experiences.

Learning to operate from first principles can be achieved by looking at things differently and breaking down the assumptions you are making upfront. In our maze example these are some of the assumptions you might have made:

1) The path has to be through the maze

2) The maze is two dimensional

3) You can not ask for help

4) The maze is blocking your path

Just by listing these assumptions, you can start to see that none of these things were stipulated. The instruction was simply to find a path from A to Z. If you really want to break the mold, this is also a possible solution that disregards the maze altogether!

It is evident that as simple as this example was, it opens up a much larger conversation. Where else in our everyday lives are we succumbing to this base instinct to make deductions based on analogies? Elon Musk makes the point that it takes much more mental exertion to think from first principles. So it stands to reason that we default to reasoning by analogy.

First-principles thinking is probably one of the most common traits of all the great thinkers of our time. From scientists to philosophers, Aristotle to Elon Musk, they saw the power of not taking things at face value.

“There’s no chance of their having a conscious glimpse of the truth as long as they refuse to disturb the things they take for granted and remain incapable of explaining them. For if your starting-point is unknown, and your end-point and intermediate stages are woven together out of unknown material, there may be coherence, but knowledge is completely out of the question.”
― Plato, The Republic

3. Automation in Design

We already find that there are established UX patterns that have been documented. Is it a stretch to imagine that in the near future, product design can be automated based on these sound principles? It is not only logical, but ultimately inevitable. — Source: Will creative jobs survive the AI revolution?

I wrote an article a little while ago about whether or not AI should be considered a threat to creative jobs. Since then, it is becoming increasingly obvious that AI and machine learning are in fact the saviors the design community has been searching for, for a long time.

Every industry has the burden of repetitive, mechanical, and time-consuming tasks, and as such, the digital product design industry is no exception. As design systems become more mature and mainstream, the traditional role of the UI designer becoming more and more obsolete. Eray Basar, Co-founder of 9elements and imgly puts it this way:

With the help of machine learning, we will fine-tune, simplify, and automate creative processes and ultimately empower new techniques for design and content creation. — Eray Basar

This illustration by Tony Beletramelli shows that both design and development have stages in their pipeline that could be labeled as “Redundant work”

Machine learning is here to help us eradicate these phases, and leave more time for creatives to do what they do best…creative problem-solving. This will lead to better quality products and more fulfilling work environments for design teams who embrace this change.

“We’re investing in code as a design tool. Moving closer to working with assets that don’t only include layout and design, but also logic and data. This helps bridge the gap between engineers and designers, thus reducing the need for design specs — or redlines — and the steps between vision and reality.” — Alex Schleifer, Head of Design at Airbnb

4. Futurism: Experience Design

Futurism is an often misunderstood discipline. Some would say a futurist predicts the future based on current trends in technology. However, if you ask a futurist, they will tell you their job is not to predict the future…simply because no one can.

Marina Gorbis proposes that futurism is about readiness. If we use the past and present to imagine possible futures, and one of those futures becomes a reality, our society will be better prepared for it.

As product designers, we are crafting digital experiences every day. New technologies and the internet of things are enabling us to design experiences on an increasing number of touchpoints in our consumer’s ecosystems.

As these touchpoints continue to evolve, futurists can help surface what could be several possible futures from a digital experience design perspective. We need to be thinking of these eventualities now so that we are better prepared for them. It is all about readiness.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” — Aurthur C. Clarke

For me, underneath this thought-provoking quote lies a fundamental design challenge. To create an interface with technology so intuitive and powerful that it transcends the limitations of the physical world. That is the future of experience design, and that is a future we need to be ready for.

So that’s what is keeping me up at night…fascinating and exciting ideas about the future and design. It is interesting to note, that all these ideas, from futurism, first principles thinking, automation to life-centered design, have a common thread running through them. They all deal with problem-solving in design.

I suppose that what keeps me up at night, is how we as designers can solve problems and continue to impact the lives of every technology-wielding human on this planet.