Let's Fix Things

This week Joe and Guus are joined by Shannon Thomas (founder at the Artificial) and Lisa Anderson (UX Executive from Microsoft, RGA, Sears). The discussion is open ended sharing thoughts and stories on women in design and technology. The group look at different skills and styles between gender and industry as well as insights on hiring and coaching. The panel share personal experiences and reflect how the industry has grown over time. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/letsfixthings/message

Back in Amsterdam Guus and Joe kick off with wearables news. Right after they jump into the main topic of diversity in design consultancies. They discuss that having cultural diversity in an office, can help designers understand their own biases with user behavior, device usage, and living situations. Once designers can beginning to remove their own cultural biases, they can focus on tools and methods to help clients make their product stronger. They quickly touch on needing diversity in Design Research to skip over covering "insights" that are embarrassingly basic and find what really improves clients products.The duo also discuss the culture at Raft showcasing two key principles. First, clients know their users better, and second, never refer to a client as "stupid" out of frustration. They end the show with covering cultural understanding on how design differs across countries, and highlights Guus and Joe learned in Singapore and Malaysia respectively. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/lets

Guus and Joe return after a week or both being sick. Joe starts by sharing it's almost his last week in Malaysia and he'll soon be returning to Amsterdam. The pair discuss recent news including Nintendo Switch pricing, casual gamers, Swedish ambulances, Intel IoT retail design work, and the last of Verizon holding out on the Galaxy Note 7.The main topic resolves around Joe's work in Malaysia. The past 3 months have been working as a designer purely in Excel developing Customer Journeys. Guus and Joe reflect on the strategic nature of Customers Journeys and their role in design. How development of proper customer journey work plays a role in feature decisions, strategic decisions, and development planning. While working in Excel for months may not appear to be "designer" work , Joe explains it could easy by 6 months and it's one of the most critical traits designers can overlook. Planning how, and on what channels, customers will use your products. The very foundation of Service design - an important growing f

Joined by a small live Skype audience, Joe and Guus open the first show of the new year recapping their Holiday adventures, and thanking listeners. Moving directly into the main topic, at the end of each year many design consultancies showcase their trends for the following year. Instead Guus and Joe look at Trends Raft would like to see in 2017. These are not predictions, but rather hopes based on the global trends we've observed at Raft in 2016. Stating from the position if our job as designers is to be aware of the status quo, and then work to raise it for customers, and society as a whole, Guus and Joe share their driving hopes for 2017.The duo go through 2 of the 5 hopeful trends for 2017.The decline of the phone - a look into new forms of user interface and how 2016 was a pivotal change over year for introducing different types of user interface and interaction into the consumer space at large.Privacy returns home - As personal information, privacy, and security become larger global trending topics, the

Losing no time, Guus goes right into the new of Nintendo filing VR patents driving a discussing around the Nintendo Switch, responsive hardware, and why [to Joe] the Switch is a great piece of design, but may not sell well. Guus shares a story on a Japanese anime personal assistant. Joe breaks down the idea of a personal companion, separating out the objectification issues the anime personal assistant brings.The main topic revolves around a stream of consciousness discussion on design in the role of reduction of jobs, reinforcing the separation of social classes, and not enough designers thinking globally. Guus and Joe review Amazon Go and it's role in both creating an amazing shopping experience around convenience, while potentially hurting economic growth. There is a subtle conversation on the role of Service Design in revealing all the players in a design situation and how to consider the design from all sides - from user, to business, to employee.The ending sees the duo connect the conversation back with

Joe opens recounting his recent time in India. He reflect on meeting a 12 year old girl three year ago, who was the only person to speak English in her colony, and how it changed his life. Joe shares how his encounter changed the way he approaches travel, and understanding of design. The story then comes to present day when Joe returned to the village to find her and continue his discussion from three years ago.This leads into a second part of privacy and what it means for designers. The users will give up privacy and embrace customization as long as it means they receive a benefit. At the same time they push back against monitoring. Guus and Joe look at what privacy means in different countries, and how practices like deep packet inspection can be positive and negative.Guus shares his views on net neutrality while Joe challenges what that means as everything moves online. The two raise a critical question that if you allow monitoring in younger generations for such situations are safety and parental controls

Week two from Malaysia and Amsterdam. Guus brings Cozmo to play, but has to power him down after one too many attempts to jump off the table. The duo follow up on Cozmo, and have a short review of why Silicon Valley may think they are inventing the future of the Smart Home, but developing countries are more poised to deliver on that promise.The main topic revolves around regulatory government bodies across the world needing designers to assist in policy and decision making. The look at three of the biggest players and topics, Uber, Airbnb, and Drones. Joe and Guus break down that regulation being put in place may strive to slow potential abuse of new business models or technology, but they completely ignore why people love them much more than what currently exists. People arent using Uber because it's just another taxi. It has trust of the proper fare, it's on demand to your doorstep, it's automatic billing, it's continuous adding of new features. Regulating bodies ignore these [qualitative] facts. This can h

This week the show goes on the road. After a week of downtime Guus and Joe return with Joe sitting in Malaysia while Guus holds down the office in Amsterdam. Joe opens apologizing for his air conditioning and moves into the news of the US presidential elections. Staying away from the political aspects Guus and Joe look at what Trumps investment in US infrastructure could mean for Smart Cities. The conversation then looks at what Joe has seen with connectivity and smart products in Malaysia. The group discuss the idea that while companies in Silicon Valley think they are delivering the home of the future, countries like China, Korea, and Malaysia may be better positioned as they are actively building their cities at the time of smart products beginning to come of age. Joe complains about the 14 light switches in his hotel room.Moving to the main topic, Guus reflects on his first week playing with the Cozmo robot. The duo discuss it's SDK functions and dive into what this type of technology means for designers

On this show, Dave Benach joins Guus and Joe. Dave runs Spark Talent, a scouting and recruitment agency. His team focuses on design talent, and Dave previously led recruiting at frog design. The trio discuss skills designers, especially students, should have entering the work force now, and in the next 5 years.The group starts out recapping the Apple and Microsoft events from a design perspective, offering insights on Microsoft's unique interactions with the "dial" device on Surface and what it could mean for physical and digital interaction. With Apple, the discussion turns to AI services and Apple being best positioned from a hardware POV and Service design POV to capture the market - although their service itself lacks muster.The main topic looks at the discipline of digital design and how that has changed in the last 20-30 years. The discussion includes:what students should be learning now to prepare them for a career in designHow school are educating future designersWhat was important before, what is imp

Opening with news of the IoT DDOS attack, they discuss the need for security in IoT, and why designers should pay attention to how devices are set up. They discuss the new Kodak phone (nee camera) engaging in a short discussion that the entire premise appears backward facing.Note: We recommend watching the Nintendo Switch video: First Look at Nintendo Switch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5uik5fgIaIIn the main topic, Joe and Guus use the Nintendo switch to talk about a number of design trend topics. Starting with responsive hardware design, they look at modularisation of both HW and SW and how products should transform to fit different scenarios and contexts. Using the smart home as a proxy, they look at the idea that home spaces in the future should adapt and conform to users activities. Flipping to the opposite, designers should think about how the home, or the concept of home, travels with people and outside spaces to create a personal sense of home. People are beginning to make public spaces personal

Guus and Joe welcome their first guest, Lily Kolle, a fellow designer at Raft, to talk about he transition from the world of Industrial Design to screen based UI and UX design. Lily breaks down the idea that Industrial design, interface design, and other design verticals were mistakenly separated and need to be thought of as a whole. She moves back and fourth from design history and design principles to the application of industrial design lessons, such as sketching, and how that applies to current UI design.Joe and Guus open the show with follow up on adventures in VR as Guus shares his current interactions with the PlayStation VR headset. Joe discusses VR and Facebook, and they both review the Amazon music service recently announced. Joe sets aside his desire to talk in depth about the Samsung purchase of Viv and how it leaves other phone makers out in the cold with lacking smart AI integration.5 Lessons from Industrial Design for UXers - https://medium.com/@lilykolle/5-lessons-from-industrial-design-for-ux

We have a new introduction! Guus orders a PlayStation VR. The duo discuss VR being used in industries that often appear less tech savvy suck as industrial tiles and banking. The group then breaks down the 'Made by Google' event. The discuss the strategic implications of Google home, it's service aspects, Googles revenue streams and how Google Home would be more powerful and terrifying if it knows all your search history and works across all Google devices. Joe gets angry at the Google pixel color names. Guus then moves to VR, discussing a variety of user cases and design aspects.The discussion ends on the idea that design language have become more complex, including:VR - on screen / in VR, gestureAR - real world overlays and gesture, combination of physical device languageVoice - tone, personality, commands, natural languageBot - tone, personality, commands, natural language, visual indications of interactionHardware - materials, textures, finish, colorSoftware - visual and interaction on screen languageThe c

Joe tackles why making connected devices from precious metals is always a bad idea before follow up. Guus and Joe review more on bots and discuss what would make a good retail bot, and how designers should think of handling bot design. They discuss Google Allo and it's current disappointment of bot integration. Guus get distracted with robots that assist the lonely. Joe discussed why everyone can copy snapchat but it still won't make a difference. Joe gets to finally announce exciting news that over the past years he worked on the IKEA Smart Lighting that was just released in several pilot markets.The main topic tackles the trend of company taking more services and wearables on their own, forgoing service providers of bundled ecosystems. Utilizing the internet for mass distribution, companies are aiming to control their content and ecosystems to gain a stronger hold on their brand, revenue, and margin.Guus and Joe discuss 3 potential outcomes of this trend of distribution and specification1. Payment aggregato

Fresh back from vacation Joe and Guus hold a longer discussion on recent Apple events. This includes a breakdown between Apple and Amazon within their voice services for controlling connected devices. Joe goes over follow up from the last show looking at banking companies advertising "smart" home features to assist in home sales and the idea of smart homes assisting the elderly. Guus reviews his updates on the Raft 'aio' bot, which is being created to control the Raft office including devices and simple tasks.Joe discusses why removing the headphone jack in the new iPhone is fine, and a smart business move for Apple. This leads into the main topic of Apple and Amazon voice services. The discussion looks at four areas of comparison (Coverage, Commands, Clarity, Access) to assess how each company is progressing in handling control of connected devices and how each company is currently positioned in the question to reach the "Her" event horizon.Comments can be addressed to hello@raftcollective.comhttps://www.col

The conclusion of the three part episode, Guus and Joe look at how service providers solve current Smart Home pain points. Through bundling and re-selling of services, they can increase distribution, which drives down cost. They can bundle multiple products, which gives a single point of billing. They can create differentiation through how they sell services and what product they provide, and finally, they can provide a platform that unifies technology. They conclude their case expressing that while we don't necessarily want service providers to handle our homes, it's needed to get the best of a broad set of products that truly facilitates better living situations. They draw examples from current service provider services and especially from cable TV bundling.Joe ends on a rant explaining companies must sell these Smart Home bundled services with stories. While they are products, it is the complete scenario and story that sells a set of products and services and will bring it into people lives. Companies must

Guus and Joe do a deep dive on how service providers will save the Smart Home through bundled delivery of products and services. Part one explores the importance of the Smart Home - currently seen as more of a novelty interest for geeks, the importance of the Smart Home goes far beyond novelty and can provide real functionality to improve users lives. Most marketing that is done for the Smart Home is done for devices that offer little improvement and are costly, thus causing a decrease in interest. They are often high priced, and take a slightly advanced amount of technological competence to install. Guus and Joe set fourth a set of compelling reasons why the Smart Home is critical as part of city migration, smaller living quarters, children, elderly, and living in developing markets. The opening of the show briefly takes a tangent with weekly news into sympathetic robots and self driving cars that have drivers. http://iot.t-mobile.com/solutions/ https://my-digitallife.att.com/learn/shop http://www.xfini

Guus opens with a position of bot script writer from booking.com while Joe recaps his comedic conversation with an AT&T sales rep he could only assume was a bot.Joe finally got his Echo set up and decides to hijack half the show discussing topics from content discovery, and dealing with remembering voice commands, to hilarious situations from having friends use it."Alexa, why are you stupid""I'm sorry, I'm still learning""ohhhhhh, now I feel bad… ohhhh… why does it say that??"Guus and Joe go over again why screens are still important and brush over the topic that voice, bot, and language commands are changing the way designers need to think about system UI.They finally get to the main topic of discussing the Philips healthcare wearables release which got sidetracked from the previous week. They go over a few other wrist wearables discussing impacts for insurance companies, dealing with multiple wearables, and if they are actually useful.Booking chatbot position - https://workingatbooking.com/vacancies/cha

Guus and Joe get Amazon Echo's and proceed to derail the show ignoring their main topic in favor of discussing how voice and natural language UI will change the way designers will need to design. They discuss how different languages have different grammar structures and why that makes a difference in voice commands. The more designers understand language the better they will do designing for voice controls, and tackling different voice platforms. They then try to introduce Philips new line of personal wearables, but end up in the topics of driverless cars and the insurance industry. Philips Health Wearables 2016 - http://www.wareable.com/health-and-wellbeing/philips-announces-health-watch-and-other-wellness-gadgets-1624 Car insurance with driverless vehicles - http://www.wsj.com/articles/driverless-cars-threaten-to-crash-insurers-earnings-1469542958 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/letsfixthings/message

Guus and Joe continue their deep dive into service providers and the Smart Home by looking at the current problems with mass adoption. These center around 3 distinct areas. High price - With connectivity parts included, the price of connected hardware is understandably increased from the non-connected counterpart. In addition, the hardware is priced higher to assist in offsetting the price of the companion software, which often generates no, or minimal, revenue. Technology incompatibility - Multiple protocols and systems means interoperability issues that are difficult or impossible to solve. Lack of a service model - Most current Smart Home products lack a compelling service model that continually generates revenue over time. All of these issues, it is argued, can be solved with service provider intervention. Guus brings up a critical issue that while other services such as internet, cell service, or water are commodities that are indistinguishable, the Smart Home can be a unique service per provider t

Guus and Joe start the conversation discussing their recent trips to the US. Guus got Amazon Echo devices for both of them, although Joe has yet to hook it up since he lacks an adaptor. After 2 weeks there is a lot of news topics to discuss, and the pair go down the rabit hole on conversations around privacy, security, and what the Disney Magic Band experience is like. Joe brings up an article on Jeep's being hacked, Osram security holes and what IoT and the Smart Home means for criminals having deeper access into your homes. Guus talks about a device he made to steal Mac users keychain files. Joe gets excited discussing Disney World, the Magic Band experience, and why messaging is so important. The team goes over the idea that 10 years ago if you told people you get devices that track your every movement, purchase, and meal, consumers would have revolted. However now it's common place with phones, wearables, and Magic Band in particular.Customers will trade privacy for convenience and companies stand to gain