Convergence Conversation

Digital design in its wider context

As the news hits that design mogul James Dyson has backed out of the planned multi-million design school in Bath, it’s worth taking a moment or two to consider the importance of design to digital convergence and the electronics industry as a whole.

The Finish Architect Eiliel Saarinen once said, ‘always design a thing by considering it in its wider context’. For the purpose of this blog then the thing is a converged device and the context is modern society. There are many pressures upon the design of new devices that stem from society. Just a few worth noting include; standards of living, sustainability, energy consumption, eco-friendliness, functionality, and crime. All these aspects then impact on the design and the achievement of a successful converged device. 

To take a case in point, whilst government statistics allude to an overall drop in the thefts of technology products in recent years its threat is still all too evident. As devices shrink in size, grow in numbers, and converge in ability and function, criminals move, grow and shift with the times. What then can designers do to stall the crime surrounding digital devices?

A fantastic article by the Design Council, entitled ‘Why is crime an issue for design’ relays these issues well. The article demonstrates that whilst criminality has fallen over recent years, new challenges have emerged resulting in the need for ‘designers...to become more creative than criminals’. New products, systems, and services are now created with designing out crime in mind. By using those who’ve committed offences, and the victims of such crimes within the process, technology can stay one step ahead of criminality. According to the design council 12% of young people in England have been a victim of crime of ‘hot’ products. Hot products is the term used to describe such devices as mobile phones, MP3 players, and Games Consoles i.e whatever you most desire, you can be sure criminals desire too.

As these hot products decrease in size and converge into ‘uber products’, they also increase in number and value. Added security features to devices, such as finger print technology barriers, do in fact add value to those devices according to consumer trend analysts. It is then imperative that victims, manufacturers, technologists, and manufactures are brought together in an effort to design out current crime and safeguard against future weak points.

Just as we are all the more aware of the likelihood of crime, consumers are increasingly conscious of their impact upon the environment, driving purchasing trends.

The effects of this new ‘eco-drive’ can best be seen within the realms of food and clothing, with authenticity and natural ingredients pushing forward consumer trends. Designers are increasingly asked to take this into consideration when creating products. The consumer requirement of ‘authenticity’ hasn’t yet filtered through to consumer electronics but it’s certainly moving in that direction. Statistics show that consumers are prepared to pay more for locally produced products, and this could in time effect be the manufacturer of electronics?

It is ever more important for consumers to know where products or devices were created and even where the material came from. For example in San Francisco, the epicentre of eco friendliness, consumers are less bothered about the looks of a mobile phone and its functionality, than its simplicity and use of ‘eco-friendly’ materials. Consumers continue to seek out products with stories that run deep. They want to be able to dig down and know which materials have been used on a whole range of products beyond the realms of food and clothing and into digital devices.

Added to this people’s attitudes towards mass generated perfection is also beginning to change. The push for organic imperfect products is beginning to sweep away perfectly unscarred fruit for example, turning producers thinking on its head as consumer demand flips. Consumers are now demanding and celebrating individuality and imperfections in their purchases in an effort to satiate their search for the ‘real’. So whilst manufacturers have spent years attempting to make products perfect, consumers are now seeking the opposite. Imperfections, become perfections.

Designers and manufacturers must seek to change with the times if they are to meet new consumer demands. A de-coding of new life inspirations into consumer products must take place forming a new ‘communication methodology’ of ‘eco-couture’ and 'crime in mind'.