Designing the future of our dreams (Innovation track - Playtime EMEA 2017)

A few, weeks ago we. Met Amari, he's. 11 in the soft-spoken kid, who, loves video, games. YouTube. And basketball. And we met Amari while doing some. Research on, emerging, technologies so. We sat down with, Ahmadi and a couple of his friends in a modest dining room and, basically just asked him about the future where. He'd like to go and what, he'd like to do, here's. What he said. Bring. Me my dog and, teleport. An ice-cream, shop. We've. All been there we've, all dreamt, about the future I certainly. Remember being a Marty's, age and dreaming about flying. Cars and robots, that, cater to my every need, we're. Dreaming, about where new technology, would would go and where it would take me, and. When you dream of the future what. Do you see do. You dream about, concurrent. Odometry. And horizontal. Plane detection. Do. You fantasize about hot. Words and utterance, capture. All. About maybe. In, this group here today at play time perhaps but. At, the world at. Large. Probably. Not more, likely, we. Dream about, the. Places we can go. The. Things we can do and. The. People we. Can be I'm. France, this, is Fabian and we're from I do I do is a global, design. And innovation firm and I. Do pioneered, human centered design which, is a philosophy and, approach towards. Design, which. Always starts, with people's, desires. And. It's. Really the only way for us how, we, get inspired about future, products. And services and we're. Here today to talk, about how. In our experience, technology, is always the. Most valuable, when. It helps us actually realize, our. Dreams. And. We. Really want to shift the thinking from what technology. Is capable of to, what it enables us as, humans. To do, and. These. Four emerging, technologies, are on everybody, lips, today it's, like we. Are, they. Are. Digital. Assistants, and of. Course as well apps and if, we talk about apps we're talking about that kind of app that you don't, have to download and install, we will call them ephemeral. Apps, now. These technologies, are becoming. Increasingly. Important. Computing, platforms, and none. Of us want to miss, out on the opportunities. They represent. And. Some. Of you may already be working with these technologies, and some, of you may be considering. Working. With them and you, may be thinking to yourself. I'd. Like, to get involved, but I don't.

Know How and. If. I, jump, in and get involved. What. Should I build what, should I make with, these technologies, and. I'm. Sure you're all asking yourself. How. Does any of this fit, into my business and how am. I going to make money. So. Today here at playtime we, heard a lot about the capabilities. Of those technologies, about their features and how, to implement them so we, are not going to talk about any of that what. We are going to talk about is actually. What. Are these technology, is good for from a human perspective. How. Do. They fit into your business and. How. You can get started and of, course most, importantly how. Can we all learn something from amadi and it's, golden flying Lamborghini. Now. Earlier, this year Google. Play approached, us and they post, a pretty great question, they. Asked, us what. Are these technologies. Really. Good, for now, we're really excited, by them and, we. Know they have a ton of potential, but, what do people actually want, to do with them and how, can we help our developer, partners that's all of you here today how can we help them. Make the most of these technologies, and to, answer the question, we did what we always do we went out and talked, to people first. We talked to the people on the forefront of those technologies. Researchers. Developers. Some, of you guys here in the audience because we really want to understand, what, are the people that are developing and, creating with those technologies, have. Been actually thinking about them. And. Then we went and spoke to both users, and non-users, of, these technologies. Because we wanted to learn how people imagine. These four, things fitting, into their everyday lives, what their what their hopes and dreams are, when it comes to these technologies, and to. Do this we hosted, a number of group, research sessions, and our offices, in San Francisco. The, same themes kept coming up so we're going to give you a peek into one, of these sessions and, for. This particular session we. Invited five people among, them a self-identified. Early adopter a gamer, and even, a complete, technophobe, so just, let you know if we do this kind of sessions, we, like, to recruit, for the extreme of behaviors so that we really span the full spectrum of experiences. With any given, subject, and. It's. Really important for us that we have strong inspiring, opinions, and perspectives to push our thinking and as, you can see it's a very casual. In-person, conversation, over beers so no one-way, mirror is a fancy, tracking technology, because. Again the. Intention was not to be comprehensive here, the intention, was to really, understand what people are feeling and, what they want what.

They Do and why, and. We. Didn't want to get distracted, by some of the existing, platforms, or brands. Or products, and so in, order to do that we created. A number of design exercises, that abstracted. Each technology, into. Something that people, could hold, draw. On and use. To start imagining the, potential, because. We found that if you give something to people that's too polished. They'll, look. For the flaws but. If you give them something that's pretty rough they. Can begin. To see the, potential. So. Let's look at take, a look at what we did for vrv exercise, we did for Vyasa to dig into people's, dreams for, VR, we handed, out different. Scenes that ranged, from the mundane like commuting, on the subway to the more fantastical. Like visiting, Mars or flying, over, a city, we. Told people to imagine that they were transported. To this place then. We asked them how, do you think you got there what. Would you do there who or what would you want to bring along who would you want to communicate, with, and. We. Also chatted, with our group about AR and, to, access their hopes for the future of AR, we. Did another simple, exercise we just handed out this piece of acrylic to lay over their scenes and asked them to draw. What they imagined seen through those magic glasses that's. How, we call, them here's. What they came up with and when, we play this video about AR and VR please. Pay, close attention to, what are their wishes I mean listen, to what they're saying but. Also what are the desires and wishes implicit. In their words, I'm. Underwater. Scuba, diving I'm in downtown Tokyo I am, on the New York subway. I'm currently, skydiving. Over San Francisco I, was in a meeting and I was really bored so I decided to come to Mars I am probably. With. My seven-year-old, this, guy looks like he could be a famous rock star and it'd, be really cool if I could validate, that somehow my, magic glasses allow me to share this experience with my. Followers in real time, over here we have the donations, that are coming in live as my viewers like what I'm doing so here you see a notification Lena. Wants to join me on my quest to, find, them watch treasure my, magic glasses have two modes one is all, about me and one, is all about them, so. For the me mode it would show me recommendations. And news feed and then for them I would, be able to understand, how, my fellow commuters are, doing, what they're thinking what they're feeling and what they might need okay in the corner you can see that. I have, a countdown, to. When, my pizza, arrives in the real world and in fact I would want the ability to. Almost. Dismiss, all of it and like, better. Immerse, myself in, the environment. So. Nikki wanted to bring, her kids along with her to Tokyo and Angela. Wanted, to find out about that potential, rock star in the, subway and when. We hear Susannah, say. That she was in a boring meeting and escaped. To Mars to find hidden treasure, with her friend Lena we listen to that story we don't tend, to fixate on whether. Her VR, headset, is going to make her nauseous, or how, she's going to be able to pick, up Martian, rocks using motion controllers. And don't, get us wrong sure we know that all those technical constraints, are important, but what people are actually saying is, that they want to escape, to an exciting, place they. Want to explore this place on their own terms and they want to share their experiences. With friends so. At its core for, us the, promise of VR is the ability, to, take us to, amazing, new places, with. New abilities that, are only limited by our imagination. Now. We heard from another person, that they were playing, Pokemon, go during. Their commute and in doing so they began, to notice all, these wonderful architectural. Details in the New York subway that they'd missed before if. You think about that story in the context, of a. Yawn if you go beyond the surface what. People, want from AR is to. Learn about their surroundings, and the.

People Within them so. In other words the, overarching, promise. Of AR. Is that. It gives us the ability to reveal. And interact, with hidden, layers of information. Right, within our physical surroundings. Ok. Now let's look at digital assistance and to, uncover thoughts, and digital assistance we. Did another very simple exercise we just asked the. The group, to basically, write, a job, description for, a real-life assistant, and we asked them like if you would have this assistant, like what. Would you ask them to do which. Kind of skills do they need to have I think most importantly, which kind of relationship, do you want to have with this assistant here's. What they said I'm. Looking for somebody who's very organized self-starter. Able, to predict, my needs be, able to keep. My kids entertained, without, screen, time I would say think Tony Stark and pepper and iron, man she. Knows what he needs before he needs it and I would definitely look for a willingness, to, challenge. My ideas, and, propose. Like new or novel solutions. Keep, me on track and honest, with a lot of my personal goals, if they could show, me a funny, animal video every, day I would be very happy, the unusual, trait is that this person never, ever sleeps. So. People wanted their assistant, to go far, beyond just simple, tasks automation. Or delegation, they wanted their assistant, to inspire. Them to motivate them to keep, them honest and to make them laugh, in. Other words what, they wanted their system, to be is to be very, personable, and they wanted, to interact with them in very, human, terms through. Natural. Conversation. So. If we think about digital assistants, we really need to think about their potential which. Is that they can support us in very empathic, and, kind, of very. Intuitive. Ways so. They, can respond to our mood to. Our context. And sometimes. Even challenge, and surprise, us so, the promise of digital assistants, is to, be able to control information in, a very intuitive. Way through. Conversations, and we're very excited about what that could mean for conversational, interfaces and especially, for, the expression of personality, through, this technology.

Now. Finally we're going to talk about apps, a, subject. You're, all very, familiar with now. The introduction of ephemeral, apps prompted, us to revisit. How. People approach apps, in, the context. Of what. They want to do not just how they want to do it. So. We, basically. Presented. People with two scenarios one. Was. Kaffir, a new cafe, opened near your workplace anyone to order something there and the, second one is you have to park a car in the city that you haven't visited before and then be again like we just asked them how they would do this in an ideal world what, the challenge is coming up in how they would go about it let's, take a look what they said I would, like to pull up some sort of interface, that, will just magically show, up and have. A level of like. Social proof or validation, that this Cafe is actually, good if I had a. Coffee around the specific time of day you should just ask me do you want me, to order your coffee I would like to at. Least do it with minimal, human, interaction, and with, as few steps as possible so things like payment information is already saved what would be nice some sort of alert or my assistant telling, me hey you know what it's ten minutes past the time you're allowed to park here don't, park here there's another spot ten. Minutes away it all just automatically, detect, when. My car has parked and then when I've actually left actually what I would want to do is, I want to pull up and have my, car let me out and. Then it would drive off. Don't. Make me park and. Behind. The future, that he imagines. Really is a request, and the request, is that he doesn't, want to deal with the task of parking, his car he just wants to get on with his day and, you. Heard another, person, say that he. Wanted to order food, from the new cafe, with minimal. Human, interaction. And with. As few, steps as possible, what. He's really saying is, just make. It easy. And simple, for me so. If we talk about ephemeral, apps or about. All apps for that matter people. Aren't really that interested. In which platform, or service they are interacting, with they. Just want to do what. They do when. They need to and it, should be as simple. Delightful. And intuitive, as possible and, to be fair I mean there has been the promise of apps all along right now, we, had one, more group session, this. One was with kids you heard, from Amari on his Lamborghini right in the beginning. We. Held a session with, a group of kids aged 10, and 11, and we, spoke to them about the four same technologies. And, their. Dreams for the future when it comes to these technologies, we did, the same for design. Research, exercises. With them with with, one exception instead. Of a human, assistant, personal. Assistant we asked them to design their very, own personal, robot because well, hey why not and. Again. We didn't look, for inspiration from kids because, they're gonna be the core demographic of what we're doing here but we, asked kids because they have the ability to, imagine and dream unhindered. Of any constraints. Of technological. Or historical. Baggage and they really did so let's. See what they imagined. It. Has stretch, marks on its leg because, it can be as small as fitting, in your pocket, and as, big as a human, it, makes.

Gummies, For me in its stomach it, rests. Underneath, my bed and it's, my alarm I was transported. To Tokyo. Japan and, I, got here by taking. My private, jet I like, to bring, my. Robot. My, friends. My family and, does, tons of other things. Including. A device. That I imagined. That, would be a translator, that I put in my ear and I would translate, Japanese. So. What does all of this really mean I know cute, kids and all but what. Did we learn. At a high level from, our research well. If you take a step back. Fundamentally. The. Promise, of all, new technology, has. Always been. To. Expand, our abilities, as humans, to enable. Us to do things that we weren't able to do before so. It's never just, been about what. The technology is capable of but more importantly, it's, been about what it enables us to do as people and that's a very, important, distinction, and. These. Four technologies we've been speaking about. Of us fantastic. New your bilities and i think that's why we're all so excited by, them but, sometimes. When we're exploring, the, features, and specs and capabilities, of these technologies, we, can lose track of what they actually fundamentally. Mean for, people we, can get frustrated. By the, shortcomings. Of the current, incarnation of, these technologies. Especially. When the frameworks works, are still new and we're all trying to figure, things out together. So. Here's the summary of the, four technologies and, what, they enable us to do and what people are expecting from them so VR. Should transport us to different places with new abilities of, mantid reality, allows us to interact with hidden layers of information in our physical, surrounding while, digital assistant, let us access and control information and services through conversation, and ephemeral. Apps make it easy for us to do what we want when. We want and. It's. Again it's really, important that when we develop for those technologies, that we keep the human story in mind we. Really need to ask ourselves is, if what. We are doing is in service. Of the desires and dreams of the people that were designing, for because. If you start with what people want and not. What's technically possible I think you have an approach that increases. The likelihood of really, creating something meaningful. Desirable. And of lasting value, ok. So right. About now you, may be thinking. Interesting. Cool that's great but how do I apply this to my business how do I apply this to my, particular, case. And my customer. Well. We've. Got something for you if. You reach underneath, your seats, you'll. Find a deck of cards glued. To the bottom of your chairs for. The people on the wooden. Chairs they're. Glued to the legs. Pop. Up is like popcorn. Right. Open. Open. The deck of cards up and we'll. Go through them together and we'll explain them to you so we've, called, this. Deck of cards. Human-centered. Design prompts. For emerging, technologies and the, deck contains, twenty. Prompts. Spanning. The four technologies we've been talking about and, they're, there to help you think, of potential. Products. In the context. Of your own, particular. Customers, needs they're based, on our research on what we heard people want, and they're. Intended, to provide guidance. At that earlier ideation, stage when. You're trying to figure out what, to build as Ross talked, about earlier, so, here's how these cards work, you. Remember Garrett who earlier talked about, his magical, assets what. He really wanted is the ability to, dismiss everything, and better, immerse himself in, the environment, so, he's basically asking for a mute button to. Avoid any. Distraction. And that. Made us think a our might, have the ability to, help, people focus and that's, not typically what we think about right when we think about AR it's always about adding, stuff about augmenting. Reality but. What if we use it to remove things and to, enhance focus, so is there, an opportunity to, help prioritize, information.

In Our environment. Through AR. So. Say you picked, up this card and it says think. Of a moment in your users, day when, they're overwhelmed. Or distracted. Now. Consider, your particular, user, their. Day-to-day, life and could that be a certain time of day or maybe it's a certain, type of situation. They're in you picture that scenario in your mind and then you flip the card over to the, design prompt which reads how. Might we use AR. To, remove distractions, so. We'll. Give you an example so you know how this works so say you're. A physical. Retailer. And, when. A customer walks into your store they're, faced with hundreds. Possibly even thousands. Of different products. And, at times your user may be browsing and they may, just be roaming, the store but at other times they may actually know exactly what, they want and in those, cases entering. A store may be a very overwhelming and and distracting. Experience. So. You could, consider creating an AR application. That. Helps, your. Customer, find exactly. What they want by, simply. Removing what. They don't, now. That's, just an example there's a clear product opportunity. There but you can see how there's a, very human, desire in this case the need to focus that, can, be met using a. AR and. What. We are doing here is basically we're, finding a design opportunity, which. Leads with a human, scenario, and a. Need. And desire so, we, didn't choose, the technology, first we didn't say which, kind of AR application, can we build we basically asked. How. Can we help people focus and AR might be one technology that, does that and in, doing this exercise in, using these cards you may also find. That actually. Some, of these technologies don't. Lend themselves to your business, and your customer, and that maybe they're not worth pursuing and, that's, fine too at least by, doing it this way you didn't. Commit months, of resources, to it before finding, out the pardon. Well frankly expensive, way okay, let's look at another one. Something. Sue Susan said about her personal assistant she, said she wants it to make make, her laugh-in sarcastic. And, make sarcastic remarks, so that make us think like if those digital assistants, should have really, human, meaningful. Conversations, they. Me really need to understand, the, mood of the, person they're talking to or. As. Rupert put it. Sometimes. I want, to have a discussion with it sometimes. I wanted to give me some attitude and sometimes, I just wanted, to turn off the damn lights. So. Here's the corresponding, card. Think. Of a moment in your users, day when, their mood might change so. Consider it is that when transitioning. Between different behaviors, or perhaps, they're, moving, between different places or it's dependent, on who they're with you, picture the scenario, you flip the card over to, the design prompt. How. Might we adapt, the digital, assistance tone and behavior, to the, user's mood so. Let's say your. Company that. Basically delivers, personalized, news value assistant, so you can imagine that somebody getting. Ready for work in the morning during a weekday wants. Very different information, and has delivered in a very different way than let's say on, a Sunday afternoon and I, think, it. Might be that they want more inspirational, stories they, want to have more account of a conversation, with their with their assistant, and then the question is like how does the assistant, actually, participate, in this conversation, and the opportunity, is quite literal. It's you, can give you brand a voice, in personality. And considering. That you uses mood changes, throughout the day throughout the week throughout, the year your. Brand should, adapt to that right and I mean that's for us the only way how you can have like a human, meaningful. Conversation. And also, a long lasting, relationship with. People. So. Those are just two, examples of. The. Set of twenty cards you, have in your hands and we, hope you take these cards, and some of the methods we shared with you today and use, them as a starting point, imagining. Entirely, new products. Features, and potentially. Even entirely new businesses, surrounding these technologies. Because. Getting. Started with these technologies can be intimidating but, we, believe it doesn't, have to be complicated, or, expensive yeah. We just didn't encourage, you to build those scrappy. Prototypes, and go, out and talk to customers. Because that's the only way how we'll find out about, the dreams I mean dreams. Aren't made of specs, and features. SDKs. And api's. Dreams. Are inherently, human and it's something that's deep inside of all of us.

So. When building with emerging, technologies start, there, start, with the dreams of those you're actually designing for and also. Sometimes. Don't. Forget, to, tap into your own dreams we're. Very. Excited to see what you, come up with and what you create. Thank. You. You.

2018-02-20 21:01

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