Why seven? I learned from Design Minds on Decision-Making that seven is a cognitive limit. By Roshelle Ritzenthaler

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Isabel Brooks
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we had over four days in Austin. Why seven?

1 7xSXSW South by Southwest Interactive 2017 was a mind-expanding experience. Here are the seven themes that have emerged from the programs, events and conversations that we had over four days in Austin. Why seven? I learned from Design Minds on Decision-Making that seven is a cognitive limit. By Roshelle Ritzenthaler 2017 DESIGN CONCEPTS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PG 1

# 1Getting to data liquidity When will we stop collecting data in silos?

When will we finally overcome the lack of data liquidity to cure cancer?

Understand the impact of relationships on our health?

2 # 1Getting to data liquidity When will we stop collecting data in silos? How liquid is your data? When will we finally overcome the lack of data liquidity to cure cancer? Solve global problems? Harness epigenetics? Understand the impact of relationships on our health? How might we achieve Minimum Viable Interoperability to start moving in the necessary direction? Possibly the biggest barrier to innovation (besides politics and culture) is the ability to connect and analyze data across silos. We heard this from Joe Biden and his Cancer Moonshot; Martin Brynskov, Chair of Open and Agile Smart Cities; and Laurie Frick, a data artist exploring relationships and machine learning DESIGN CONCEPTS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PG 2

# 2The next innovation outpost: Artist as researcher VR AS EMPATHY The most thought-provoking work and boundarypushing research was presented by artists.

You enter the beauty salon of the future and peruse a line of low- to hi-tech beauty products while waiting for your appointment to get a set of Octavia Electrodes -- transcranial extensions

3 # 2The next innovation outpost: Artist as researcher VR AS EMPATHY The most thought-provoking work and boundarypushing research was presented by artists. The best VR storytelling was Hyphen-Labs NeuroSpeculative AfroFeminism piece. You enter the beauty salon of the future and peruse a line of low- to hi-tech beauty products while waiting for your appointment to get a set of Octavia Electrodes -- transcranial extensions designed to prime the brain s synapses to increase neuroplasticity. I was sitting in a salon chair, looking in the mirror at a black woman and hearing her speak, waiting to get extensions. On the way out, participants were asked to engage in a live study to better explore the neurocognitive impact of your visit DESIGN CONCEPTS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PG 3

# 2The next innovation outpost: Artist as researcher ENVIRONMENTS AS THERAPY Social Sensory Architectures (which won the Speculative and Prototyping Category in SXSW s Place

He created a woven tensile structure that responded to varying degrees of touch and movement with projected images of swimming fish.

4 # 2The next innovation outpost: Artist as researcher ENVIRONMENTS AS THERAPY Social Sensory Architectures (which won the Speculative and Prototyping Category in SXSW s Place by Design competition) by University of Michigan professor Sean Ahlquist, explored tactile, responsive environments as therapy. He created a woven tensile structure that responded to varying degrees of touch and movement with projected images of swimming fish. More controlled pressure made the fish swirl. Ahlquist s goal is to use sensory surfaces as therapy for his 7-year-old daughter on the autism spectrum. He is currently piloting the structures at her school DESIGN CONCEPTS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PG 4

# 2The next innovation outpost: Artist as researcher VISUALIZING COMMUNITY HEALTH Using Design & Tech to Create a Healthy Community focused on the work of artist Jennifer Chenoweth.

raise health consciousness and literacy, empower and enable community members to act on their own behalf, develop new insights into the priorities of residents, and ultimately create offerings that

5 # 2The next innovation outpost: Artist as researcher VISUALIZING COMMUNITY HEALTH Using Design & Tech to Create a Healthy Community focused on the work of artist Jennifer Chenoweth. She s working with the Design Institute for Health at UT Austin, Thinkery (a children s museum), thinkeast (a residential district for the creative community), and Johnson & Johnson on a project to raise health consciousness and literacy, empower and enable community members to act on their own behalf, develop new insights into the priorities of residents, and ultimately create offerings that have significant impact on their collective health. Interestingly, these communities felt the most important thing for them was health - whether it be financial, physical, emotional, or community DESIGN CONCEPTS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PG 5

# 2The next innovation outpost: Artist as researcher RELATIONSHIPS + MACHINE LEARNING Relationships are Ripe for Machine Learning was a presentation by data scientist Laurie Frick.

smoking. Relationships are the most undervalued measure and tool to change behavior. Is there something we can borrow from here? How might we create a safe space for the artist as explorer?

6 # 2The next innovation outpost: Artist as researcher RELATIONSHIPS + MACHINE LEARNING Relationships are Ripe for Machine Learning was a presentation by data scientist Laurie Frick. Her premise was that we could use sensors to determine friendships that nudge us in the right direction - potentially improving our health, productivity and help us achieve goals like quitting smoking. Relationships are the most undervalued measure and tool to change behavior. Is there something we can borrow from here? How might we create a safe space for the artist as explorer? In his talk Building and Inspiring a Future you Want to Live In, Martin Wezowski of SAP Berlin said, Create stuff you have no idea what it could be used for. Join a punk rock band DESIGN CONCEPTS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PG 6

SxSW in itself is an experience in amateur curation -- we each chose the tracks

It can get super repetitive if you don t intentionally break that bubble.

personalized news and widening gaps in perspective.

7 # 3ME ME ME ME! Tech is individual Is it the end of the shared physical experience? SxSW in itself is an experience in amateur curation -- we each chose the tracks and talks that fit into the bubble of our own personal interests. It can get super repetitive if you don t intentionally break that bubble. On a similar train of thought, there were a series of talks on the impact of personalized news and widening gaps in perspective. We spent more than enough time watching people flail around with VR goggles. We were just steps away from each other, but had completely different stories to tell DESIGN CONCEPTS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PG 7

# 4Start investing in relationships Experiences are easy.

This was a comment from a panel discussion with Capital One s service

They re building a one-on-one financial coaching service that uses design

A prototype at the Panasonic booth featured The Gobie, a wearable focused

A presentation on AI focused on the idea that once you have a

8 # 4Start investing in relationships Experiences are easy. It s the relationships that are hard. This was a comment from a panel discussion with Capital One s service design team. They re building a one-on-one financial coaching service that uses design tools to help individuals discover and articulate their financial goals. A prototype at the Panasonic booth featured The Gobie, a wearable focused on social wellness via interactive play. A presentation on AI focused on the idea that once you have a conversation you assume an emotional relationship. However, when it comes to conversational AI, the emotional relationship is obviously fabricated. Relationships were a major theme DESIGN CONCEPTS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PG 8

# 5Human-centered design is no longer enough Human-centered design is a little selfish, isn t it?

But there is research that shows if you re mean to robots, you re going to be mean to people,too.

living things has an implication on how we frame problems.

9 # 5Human-centered design is no longer enough Human-centered design is a little selfish, isn t it? What about robots? PETA received complaints when Boston Dynamics released a video of a man kicking a robot dog. But there is research that shows if you re mean to robots, you re going to be mean to people,too. But seriously, expanding the conversation from humancentered design to communities, the environment and all living things has an implication on how we frame problems. Another related theme that has been coming up as of late is the idea of Circular Design (IDEO) or Circular Business Models (Design Forum Finland). How might we think in terms of product circularity to build new interactions between manufacturers and consumers and create incentives toward upcycling of products, components and packaging for the creation of new business opportunities? 2017 DESIGN CONCEPTS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PG 9

Beta Blocks was mentioned as an interesting NGO that is able to install benches and trees on blighted blocks to prototype the benefits of public green space.

10 # 6Experimentation as a service Talk of experimentation and real-time planning also was a big theme. For the workshop Co-creating the City of the Future, the conversation focused on how cities can experiment at scale. Beta Blocks was mentioned as an interesting NGO that is able to install benches and trees on blighted blocks to prototype the benefits of public green space. For Capital One s service design team, their new one-onone financial coaching service for their customers was seen as a modest pilot that they could observe and then eventually scale up to the digital. Access to clinical trials also seems to fit in this bucket. In Biden s Moonshot for Cancer talk, one of the obstacles to innovation in health that needs to be ovecome is access to clinical trials DESIGN CONCEPTS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PG 10

# 7Maybe you CAN see the future The future is already here it s just not very evenly distributed. - William Gibson.

As I was looking at the fastest autonomous electric car, my parents sent me a picture of my son Otto in his electric car.

Joe Biden spoke about challenging the assumption that the future is so far away.

But we need to overcome some political and cultural barriers to make it happen.

11 # 7Maybe you CAN see the future The future is already here it s just not very evenly distributed. - William Gibson. This couldn t be any truer than at SxSW. As I was looking at the fastest autonomous electric car, my parents sent me a picture of my son Otto in his electric car. We were in different worlds at that same moment in time. Joe Biden spoke about challenging the assumption that the future is so far away. Treatments and cure for cancer are possible in our lifetimes. But we need to overcome some political and cultural barriers to make it happen. It s not new to us that designers play a critical role in articulating the future. What I found interesting was that two of the futurists I saw speak both used an analog approach to mapping trends. They put the Post-Its and papers on the wall and connected the dots. 10:00a in Austin, TX at SXSW Worlds fastest electric car (meanwhile) 10:00a in Baraboo, WI, Worlds slowest electric car 2017 DESIGN CONCEPTS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PG 11

Why is Art Important?

Why is Art Important? I was asked this by Ms. Peg Pasternak of Lahser High School in Bloomfield Hills, MI where she teaches. It turns out this is something I think about a great deal, so in this short