Driftime®: What does meaningful design look like to you?
Clara: As a studio, we see meaningful design as a product, service or experience that either improves people’s lives, or serves as inspiration. We’re living through a decade that seeks people-centric design, and have an opportunity to humanise the technology we create to have a positive and enduring impact. Meaningful design involves listening to our community as well as our clients - “user insights” are more than just numbers and figures, we instead follow a process of experimentation and curiosity.
“We prioritise care, clarify complexity, and consider the physical context of use before we think about data.”
Optional CaptionIs it possible to measure the impact of design beyond engagement metrics?
Absolutely! Our mission is to enhance the unquantifiable aspects of life: feelings of delight, surprise, empathy, and trust are all elevated by meaningful design and careful invention. We believe in giving human reactions the same weight as we give to quantifiable measurement and parameters of engagement - human anecdote and emotion becomes more than just “data”.
We’ve always been inspired by magic and the way we achieve “awe” through design. In the studio, we use a “Scale of Astonishment”, a way of aligning the “delight” that designers can create, with the “wonder” that magicians can deliver. We’re finding new ways of measuring impact that aren’t data-driven; it’s a work in progress.
How might we bring technology ‘offline’ and into the world?
It’s a well worn phrase, but good design should be invisible. Our relationship with digital technology is caught up in a whirlwind culture of constant and active online engagement. The demand for our online attention can be seen in the persistent notifications calling us to take action - companies are still valuing our participation over love or usability.
Designing for the offline scenarios we can find ourselves in when using technology is exciting; how can we adapt a travel app for when we are running for the bus, or walking home alone? We’ve spoken in the past about how to create a considerate app: we prioritise care, clarify complexity, and consider the physical context of use before we think about data.
What does the future of design look like?
I’m optimistic - our role as a studio is to create a better, and more inspiring future for people through meaningful design, so we need to nurture our hope and pursue positivity.
In the studio we’ve recently been experimenting with AI image generators and their creative potential. There’s a lot to be said for co-creation with a machine, and Midjourney has been yielding some fascinating results for us. Inspired by our principles of relevance, clarity, empathy, optimism and magic, I hosted an AI inspired dinner, bringing together great minds to feast on “singularity pesto” and to share our musings on the magic of technology and non-human minds. There’s something really exciting about interrogating and experimenting with the future of design - the innovation we’re embracing needs to prioritise humanity in the face of unpredictability. Who knows what’s next.
