To be honest, I'm quite surprised that David Kelley haven't talked much on the importance human centred design and why the future of design will depend on us, humans. Yes, I have watched all of the videos that he has shown and I can see that some of the products shown are made to satisfy humans, but I'm just surprised that he lets the audiences to watch all the videos throughout the talk and he just introduced some of the products and their features. Is that all? Don't get me wrong, I like his way of conveying the message so maybe it's just another way to make people to understand the future of human centred design. Before watching this video, I thought he would be like Don Norman trying to explain to us from the start to finish what is design is all about, definition wise, the importance of it, how is it possible to achieve such design, what kind of future will we get, etc.
Putting that aside, the videos are definitely interesting and an eye opener to me. From the videos that he has shown to us, I do understand now why design is always about the user experience and it's vital to deliver a memorable and good learning experience to the users. The Prada store in New York is a good example. The staff device is particularly useful for both staff and customers to know more about the clothes/products offered in the store. Through the device, we would know how the clothes would appear on a person, price, history of purchases, colour and size availability, etc. Also, with this device, the communication between a staff and a customer will be much easier, effective and smooth flowing, the staff people will be much more organized, etc. The changing room, however, is a very cool design and high tech but I don't think it's necessary and might be too costly. I really like the staff device but not so much on the changing room and magic mirror.
The interactive wall in a museum in London is built to let the visitors of the museum know the feedback by the people who have been to the museum. The visitors would know what other people are thinking about or causes that people are fighting for. It must be one of the highlights of the museum.
The cubicle room is also another creative idea and it would definitely be useful for office workers to cheer them up to work more efficiently and happily. The features on the wall would add more 'life' in the room so it would be a great motivation to give that extra energy or perhaps creativity to the working adults. In particular, the living flower feature is created so that when a person leaves the room, the flower will wilt and if the person enters the room, the flower will be alive again! I think this feature would encourage the person to come back to the office room again to do more work. It's a physiological feature I would say. However, there's a high possibility that people could get too distracted by the features on the wall.
The Greenwich Watercycle pavilion is one of those ways that could help to educate people about the importance of reusing and recycling water. I like the fact that once people enter the pavilion it would turn out to be a quite environment which brings a sort of interest for the people to take some time to appreciate the research that has been done by scientist to recycle water and to admire the interior design of the pavilion as well.
I thought the Spyfish would be helpful to boost up the tourism sector and will be a very good learning experience for those people who wanted to experience life in underwater.
Lastly, what Dr. Martin Fisher has done has been magnificent because he has helped the Kenyan people to get more job opportunities by helping them to design low cost pumps to get the chance to grow crops everyday, including off seasons.
Overall, product design have the ability to satisfy humans in two different ways. Example, this person wants to have this product because he or she wants it for self satisfaction but that person wants to have that product instead because he or she needs it as a necessity. In my opinion, I would categorize the Approtec's products as a necessity whereas other products are just for self satisfaction. I think the watercycle pavilion would be 50% self satisfaction and 50% necessity for the people.
So the main question is, it is our job as industrial designers to design products that the people needs them or wants them? Is this what human centred design is all about to create products to please them, satisfy their needs, make them happy, to educate them, etc.? I think it depends on what kind of sector we're working on and what type of industrial designer we want to become.
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