Design in the Wild
Unpacking the theme of Interaction 19
There were times when interaction design was a Wilderness, pioneered by intrepid explorers who braved the unknown to uncover and establish value. Next came a time when interaction design established a base camp, where a great many trained perfecting their GUI craft and taking their work mainstream. The Wilderness became less mysterious and more of a familiar and serene territory, with designers gaining a comfortable seat at the proverbial table.
Suddenly, new challenges arose. The technological boundaries were pushed by voice, gesture, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence. The stakeholders demanded business skills, not just design skills. The society began facing consequences of the technological revolution that were not intended. Once again, interaction design found itself without a shared grounding in ethics, theory and craft that is timely and relevant. Once again, interaction designers lost a firm grasp on the core skills, practices, and responsibility. Once again, we found ourselves in the wild.
Wild can come in many shapes and forms.
- Is your wild a new technology that requires a different set of design skills?
- Is it a user context that calls to rethink how you do research?
- Are you a team of one working in the wild where design is still a novelty?
- Is your wild a geographical location away from the hubs of innovation and techno buzz?
- Are you in the wild using your design skills to fight for social injustice, environmental change, healthcare improvements and better education?
- Is your wild a wild card?
Whatever it is, let’s conquer it together. You are not alone. We are all pioneers of the new design frontiers.
Join us for Interaction 19!
