Our Designerd, Syeila, flew to Copenhagen, Denmark for Design Matters ’23. She is still geeking over the experience! Read on for the 4 key points on design she resonated with from the conference.

#1: Designers and Their Power of Influence

In the era where technology is evolving rapidly, companies are racing to keep up with the changes, but the big question is: at what cost?

Designer and creator Katherine Zhou argues that designers wield significant influence over users. They have the ethical responsibility to choose how they wield that power. For instance, some designs can be oppressive, intentionally hindering freedom and basic human rights. Hostile architecture, like installing spikes to deter homeless individuals from resting, exemplifies this issue.

In another instance, a company gamified surveillance to monitor its facility workers. Some employees reported being unable to take bathroom breaks due to time constraints, highlighting the inhumane nature of such oppressive designs.

Every design choice impacts user experience. For example, websites that streamline subscription payments with a single click, but made it super inconvenient to cancel by requiring the customer to call. This employ deceptive and manipulative tactics in presentation and marketing.

#2: What It Means to be Human

Designer advocate, Preston So, made a good point that we relied on fellow humans to define humanity, but now, we increasingly trust machines to shape our understanding of it.

Virtual reality like the metaverse often do not accurately represent the real world. It’s up-side? Avatars provide individuals who cannot express their true selves in public but can embrace their chosen identities in virtual environments.

We should be embracing all different spectrums of identity that we have as people in the real world. Unfortunately, lack of representation in the virtual world still exists, ie. wheelchair users.

Rasmus Sanko, Chief Strategy Officer of Charlie Tango in Copenhagen, highlighted an intriguing case involving language translation software from Danish to English. The software sometimes mistranslates nuanced terms like “my partner/loved one” into specifically “girlfriend” or “boyfriend,” reflecting preconceived notions about context. This underscores the importance for digital creators and designers to avoid such biases and ensure inclusivity in their designs.

While biases are ingrained in culture, digital creators and designers must actively work to undo them.

Machines learn based on human input. When we inject our biases and our exclusionary prejudices into the machines and technologies we built, we are diminishing our own humanity by doing so. We need to learn and unlearn many to improve.

We can’t and shouldn’t rely on machines to tell us how to be human. The only ones who can tell us how to be human is us.

#3: Inclusivity and Accessibility in Design

Audio and visual impairments, as well as physical or motor disabilities, often lead to exclusion. For instance, individuals with speech impairments struggle with services that rely solely on spoken interaction, like ordering food through an intercom. What might seem routine to us becomes a significant barrier for them. As emerging technologies continue to evolve, inclusivity demands careful consideration in every aspect.

The same goes for digital design. Factors such as colour schemes, text size, layout, and navigation flow are critical to people with colour blindness or low visual acuity. Never rely on colour alone to relay meaning; include icons and supportive messages to ensure content comprehension for all users, as shown below.

Mariam Braimah also mentioned the importance of context in page design. As the Design Lead of Netflix’s growth and TV team, she and her team monitored the sign-up rate and noticed an increase of sign-ups when her team integrated context pages, ie. adding description about the page or some wording adjustments, like usage of the word “free” for the first month.

Rather than assuming people don’t read, Braimah’s team focuses on presenting concise, relevant information that users can easily scan. Her team customised sign-up pages for each country. While most countries may find the word “free” appealing, it is not so in Japan as the Japanese view “free” offers as a scam.

What appeals to a customer in the US may have an opposite effect to someone in Ghana, South Africa or Japan. For example, the feature to “watch from any device” doesn’t mean much in Nigeria because people watches Netflix on their mobile phones instead of a TV.

Embracing diversity in user demographics—including gender, age, language, and accessibility needs—ensures inclusive designs that cater to all users worldwide.

#4: AI – Friend or Foe?

Since this technology has been blowing up, many wonders if Artificial Intelligence or AI will render designers obsolete.

Tey Bannerman, Head of Design in McKinsey & Company encouraged creatives to leverage on AI to supercharge their design craft – from research to UX to product design. He urged designers to broaden the horizon beyond design and upskill on customer experience, insight, marketing and strategy. Rather than fearing AI, leverage its capabilities and refine its use through iterative learning.

Megan and Edwin from Duolingo Max shared a very interesting insight on how the team transforms language education with generative AI. Positioned as a premium tier above Duolingo and Super Duolingo, Duolingo Max introduces advanced features like personalised explanations for mistakes from lessons and immersive role-playing scenarios. They’ve enriched user engagement by introducing diverse characters with distinct personalities, integrating storytelling elements to create relatable and surprising learning experiences.

The team made use of GPT4 to inject these elements in the right moments. It’s a collaboration between AI and product designers to create a rewarding result.

The Future of Design?

It’s common to feel apprehensive about change and innovation. Rather than letting fear dictate our response, we should delve deeper into the topic, taking it as an opportunity to enhance both our products and mindset. Generative AI serves as a tool for subject matter experts, not as a replacement for them.