#61 Peak into the Future of Design
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Hello friends and welcome back to the future of UX podcast. My name is Patricia Reiners and I'm your host for this podcast episode. In this episode we will take a little sneak peek into the future and also see what's waiting right ahead of us.

We are living in quite an exciting time. There are a lot of changes left and right. And in this episode, we will go a little bit through the history of design and also see where things are eventually heading. And before we are diving into the episode, a quick announcement.

I recorded a 30 minute long mini AI training for designers. It's for free for zero euros and you can just sign up for it in the description box. I added a link there so you can find everything there. And in this mini training, you learn three strategies that you can use to leverage generative AI and really stay on track with everything that's happening at the moment. So if it's interesting to you,

sign up you can find it in the description box okay so now let's go back to our topic the sneak peek into the future and one thing that actually inspired me to do this episode was a comment that i saw on social media as those of you who are following me for

a longer time now that i'm very active on social media especially instagram and also linkedin and i saw an interesting comment underneath one post so the university where i studied in i studied in mainz communication design is currently looking for a professor who's focusing on artificial intelligence i think it's amazing that they're doing that i think every university should do that every

basically to prepare especially students for what's ahead of us because there will be so many changes that you know everything that is taught at the moment at university is pretty much outdated it's already outdated so I think it's a great move to really think about the future of course I think that

And it was pretty funny actually, because there was a comment underneath from someone who said, oh, crazy, AI is just a hype. You're just doing that to, you know, for the fame, basically. And I thought, oh, wow. Wow, it's so interesting that people still believe or that there are still people out there who don't really understand AI.

the big change that's coming with AI and that's not just like a famous cool hip trend but this is definitely something that will have a huge impact

on design, on all of us and especially the designers who are not underneath the top 10. And generally we need to say that every technology goes through some kind of a hype cycle so this is totally normal so everything is kind of hyped but there is a difference between it's a bubble that sometimes like really blows off and there's nothing underneath or

that's the technology that will change basically everything like the internet did or the digitalization did with design right so AI is the same I would say now we will have a quick look at some of the future trends and the first is personalization so the internet gets personal very much personalized

Generally, the way we interact with the internet has already completely changed and it will also change much more in the future. In the era of very static, one size fits all websites is behind us. So nowadays, and especially in the future, we will be greeted by web pages that feel like they were crafted just for us, really popping into existence with content that aligns perfectly with our personal interests. So a lot of the content will be personalized to the user.

It's although these websites don't even exist until we decide to visit them. And this will actually be the case. So maybe some of you have heard about the paradigm of Schrödinger's cat. He's a quantum physicist who says, who did a lot of experiments around quantums, basically. And in one experiment, he put a cat in a box. The box was closed. And he basically said, there is...

a cat in this box when we open it and have a look at it. If the box is closed, the percentage of having a cat in there or not is like 50/50. So there is nothing basically. And it only appears when we open the box and see the cat.

I hope I explained it well. I'm also going to link a few more information about the experiments in the show notes. Pretty, pretty interesting. And there's also an amazing book about him. I read it, but it's a couple of years ago. So I think, I hope I explained the experiment right. But anyway, what I want to say with it is that a lot of these websites won't exist until someone whose data has been gathered over a certain amount of time

enters this webpage and then things will be sorted, personalised to this person, right? Until this person enters the website or clicks on the URL, there's nothing.

And the website appears personalized the moment the user enters. And as the internet really evolves to become more customized to our individual preferences, it also raises questions about the future. Could we be heading towards an online world where every interaction is personalized, rendering traditional advertisement and static web pages becoming obsolete?

Probably yes. The next trend that we are seeing is that tech is definitely getting much, much closer to us. This information can be compared a little bit to like the mobile revolution, right? Like mobile first has been the important rule for all kind of digital products. Because suddenly the way we assess the news technologies shifted from a desktop, a heavy computer at home, to doing virtually everything on our mobile phones.

And the shift wasn't just about the introduction of new gadgets. It was also about making our interactions with technology much more fluent and intuitive. So the adoption of technology often stumbles when the user experience is not intuitive. The most impactful technologies are those that feel natural and enjoyable, not those that lead to frustrations. We all know that, right? Especially as a UX designer, you know how important good UX is and that it's not that easy. Also,

Good UX is not just entering a text prompt into a text to UI tool and then expecting a perfect interface that works seamlessly. Of course not, right? Like, start at that point where you have an interface, you do testing, you do iterations. And when we really consider the evolution of user interfaces, in the early days, a simple mistake could result in catastrophic data loss.

the early stages of the computer, right? And there have been a lot of advancements and really operating systems have greatly reduced these risks, leading to much safer and more user-friendly computer experiences. For instance, when we have a look at a 3D

3D printing machine or a 3D printer. I think I also have one at home actually. It's an incredible technology, but it's pretty complex. It's also pretty difficult to print things on a 3D printer. These tools are not very accessible. Also 3D design tools are not very accessible. Of course, there are coming more tools that are getting a little bit more accessible like Spline, for example, or the one from Adobe where I forgot the name actually.

which are much more accessible and much more straightforward. But in the future, when I'm thinking about great UX or great user experience, it's much more about making the creation process easier. Starting with a text prompt: "Hey, I want to print a 3D mug for my morning coffee." You get three examples or four examples that you can choose from. You maybe iterate on them, you choose one and then it's automatically 3D printed.

So a combination of having prompts, text prompts, but also visual interfaces where you could choose. And this is what I mean with Good UX in the future. It's not so much about like, where do I place the button? It's more about rethinking the whole experience, which is possible with AI now, with generative AI. And the goal is definitely to integrate technology in our lives in a way that enhances these routines without really adding unnecessary complexity.

And the goal for technology eventually will be to not only being smart but also accessible and enjoyable and blending seamlessly into our lives. And this is currently not the case. So the true challenge lies in how technology integrates in our interfaces.

It's a fusion of human behavior, computer science, and also product design that often really defines a technology's success in becoming mainstream. And the journey from needing to understand binary code

to using graphical user interfaces, GUIs, illustrates how making technologies more accessible can lead to wide-strat adoption. Remember in the early stages of the computer, right, where you use binary code to communicate with the computer. Only very few techies basically used the computer. And the easier the interface got, the more people used it, the higher were the adoption.

So each step forward, really simplifying those interactions with computers has resulted in a search in usability and productivity. And now with like the variable technologies and augmented reality, the Apple Vision Pro, Oculus, all these tools or all these gadgets, we are entering an era where our physical and our digital worlds

will emerge even more closely. And we are moving towards controlling technologies with gestures, voice commands and possibly even touch. And AR in particular for me promises to make technology even more relevant and accessible. Imagine construction workers being able to view blueprints directly on the job site rather than, you know, confined to an office. So when we are looking ahead, the human-centered tech era

Artificial intelligence and immersive technologies like augmented reality are converging to create tech experiences that are deeply personalized and human-centric. UX will always be here and always will be very important. And UX isn't that easy that you just create a wireframe, that you just create an interface. UX is much more. Having a deep understanding of the problem and understanding the user.

By the way, the AI for Designer course will be available again in the first week of March, end of April. You can sign up for the waiting list to receive special bonuses and early access. In case that's interesting to you, you can find all the information in the description box.

At the moment, we might be at a very pivotal moment in technology and we're all kind of sensing that, right? There are a lot of new tools coming and it's pretty difficult to keep on track with everything that's going on. And we also know that there are new skills that we need to learn as a designer to not

get left behind. Another interesting phenomenon that I want to talk about is the uncanny valley which describes how the closer technology gets to replicating real life, the more unsettling it becomes when these small details aren't quite right and maybe you have

have encountered or have seen some robots who look like humans pretty much but they're slightly off and this is really freaking people out because it's so scary. I think it looks kind of real but those small details, the way how they move their mouth or I don't know touch their hair looks kind of off.

And these advancements in the eye are really starting to become also the hurdle. And today's technology can display more colors than our eyes can perceive. And this rapid process prompts us to pause and also to reflect on the direction we are headed. So it's essential to also

contemplate whether the technology we develop enhances our humanity or merely attempts to replicate it. There are a lot of crucial conversations as we continue to roll out new technologies. And there's nothing wrong with being passionate about technology. I'm also very passionate about technology. I think it's amazing. I'm seeing a lot of opportunities for a lot of different people there. So I am a huge advocate for technology and also for artificial intelligence and

also for a mixed reality, augmented reality. But I think we also need to understand that once, you know, all these science fiction ideas are now part of our daily lives, right? And I think this is quite interesting and revolutionary. For me, this reality is definitely both super exciting and thrilling, but also, of course, a little bit overwhelming. And I'm also seeing that when I'm talking with my students from the AI for a Designer course who joined

the first cohort are also with my clients. There's a lot going out there and we need to make sure that we are staying on track and really understanding what's going out there to design, to create these new experiences and be a part of the design community. So as we look to the future, I personally think it's our responsibility to shape it in a way that ensures technology enriches our lives and humanity in meaningful and positive ways. And I think the number one thing

that's important at the moment is education educate yourself try to understand what generative ai is for you for the design industry and also for your career you need to have that understanding otherwise you don't get it and this is a little bit what i what i saw with the comment in the beginning right that i saw it's totally okay to have questions to

have ideas about the future but you think this is AI is still something that's going away at some point you're totally missing the wave here and you need to educate yourself to really understand what's going on there and a free resource for you might be the AI mini training I'm linking it in the show notes so you can check it out sign up it's free so don't you don't need to pay for it

and check it out let me know how you like it and if you have any questions or just want to say hello you can always reach out to me on instagram ux.patricia say hello or yeah just leave me a comment i'm super happy about any kind of feedback or just connecting with you guys thank you so much for listening and hear you in the future

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