On 25 March 2009, I had the chance to hear the futurologist Ian Pearson at the Royal Signals Institution in London. In his lecture "A Trip to the Future", Pearson stated that the number of new life-changing technologies increases exponentially every five years. For example,in the ten years between 1990- 2000 we became more accustomed to PCs, office networks, MS Office, satellite TV, Filofax, Gameboy, Mobile phones, home PCs, office internet, e-mail, laptops, Play Station, camcorders, and Amazon.com.
In the ten years, 2000-2010, it seems to be the turn of home internet, digital cameras, wireless LANs, PDAs, chat rooms, search engines, e-commerce, Expedia, SMS, instant messaging SatNav, Blackberry, broadband, iPods, memory stick, HD video recording, eBay, home shopping, Skype, online multi-player games, virtual environments, Google maps, blogs, hard drive recorders, music downloads.
In the next five years, 2010-2015, we can predict HDTV, RFID, augmented reality, virtual reality, dual appearance, electronic jewellery, digital bubbles, smart make-up, smart clothes, smart buildings, digital paper, life-on-a-stick, personal black box, robotics, voice recognition, active skin.
The Web is picking up speed; its growth is exponential. Because we have reached critical mass, 30-50 percent of the population goes online every day. Which means functional decomposition of industries and commerce using the Internet? Nineteen years ago, it was the convergence of telecoms and computers. Today we find that convergence is between four new technologies - nano, bio, info, and finally cognitive with the ability to link to our nervous system. Convergence means a lot of new green fields; very big markets are at the boundaries where convergent industries intersect; new business models/new kinds of businesses where completely new trading conditions apply. For example
- Blurred boundaries
- Porous companies (semi-permeable membranes instead of walls)
- Highly distributed companies
- Individual knowledge workers using the web to group together into virtual enterprises.
Once people can do everything, they will have to re-evaluate what they really want to do. Ian Pearson suggests a different reading of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, saying that the value is now in the top layers (self-actualisation, esteem, social ). He affirmed that technology helps people to do more, interact more, have more fun, be more, and feel better about themselves.
With the rate of technology development faster than ever, and the web fully integrated into our everyday lives, the next big convergence is between cyberspace and the real world. Video visors and eventually active contact lenses will allow overlays of computer games and anything from the web to be overlaid onto our field of view everywhere we go.
People will even be able to customise how they appear to different strangers in the street, which will also be inhabited by computer game characters and avatars. Electronic jewellery will replace the mobile gadgets we use today, making it possible to have the highest technology while making little environmental impact. And as it becomes easier for ordinary people to make Information Technology do what they want, it will also be much easier to mobilise political power from the grass roots.
Friday 3 April 2009
Designers at work
Working circumstances and places of employment are different. Designers employed by large advertising, publishing, or design firms generally work regular hours. Designers in smaller design consulting firms and those who freelance generally work on a contract, or job-basis. They mostly fit their workday to suit their clients’ schedules and deadlines. A number of designers make a choice for work that pays high salaries, with more worries, overtime and long working hours. Others decide to work in a place that pays less but with less stress. Some work as freelancers so as to be able to manage their own time but also taking the risk of not getting enough work.
When designers love their work, this will be reflected in their daily life. When they enjoy what they do, and start to think of it as more than a job, but with desire; as fulfilling, interesting, and worthy, they will feel the change, and their job will not be a mixture of stress, tiredness, frustration, and worry.
The designer must ask himself a question; am I at the right place? Do I need to work hard? Designers may work in their own offices or studios. Designers who are paid by the assignment are under pressure to please existing clients and to find new ones to maintain a steady income.
No matter where you are, the best way forward for all designers is to manage their time and cut the hours they work. It might be a hard choice and a tough decision, but designers must make sure that they are in the right place of work. Examining what they do for the sake of their living requirements and examining the relationship between their job and their time, their impact on community, their joy and finally fulfilment.
They must judge where their job will lead them and what they should do best.
Most designers neglect the fact that recording many hours of work and a good portfolio will do nothing if their personal life is getting worse or falling apart. The importance for them is to look after work practices. They should look after practices that help them to integrate them into their job. It is the way they manage their days and working hours. What is important for them is to develop their working life at the expense of their personal life. Their priorities should be to manage their time carefully so that it benefits their careers without wasting time on peripheral activities with no benefit.
Could you plan your day and keep a daily diary of activity?
Could you identify your progress and any wasted time?
This will help you in knowing the best working methods, and how many hours you can work and still make progress, (how to do a work at a time not many) what interruptions or distractions you allow yourself at work (chatting, looking at Facebook, replying to mobile calls), how to complete your task and how to be free from stress and uneasiness or apprehension.
This will be obtained by organising your diary (personal diary), if you do not have it create one and make it clear, and stick to your daily agenda. Organise your environment at work, by not allowing clutter to exist around you. Clear it or organise it. Write short reports daily. It is tempting to ‘get going’ first thing in the morning, so feel like you are getting things done, where it takes you 10 minutes or less to review your diary and decide how you plan to tackle commitments.
Practice self-brainstorming, allow yourself to focus on the priorities, your needs and consider important things and pick up on all those loose ends. This way you will be able to plan your diary.
You will find that you love yourself the way you love your work. It will be reflected in the way you produce work; work which shows your joy, desire, interest - and you will find your working life fulfilled. Everything will change by controlling your time, effectiveness, distraction rate and your work flexibility.
When designers love their work, this will be reflected in their daily life. When they enjoy what they do, and start to think of it as more than a job, but with desire; as fulfilling, interesting, and worthy, they will feel the change, and their job will not be a mixture of stress, tiredness, frustration, and worry.
The designer must ask himself a question; am I at the right place? Do I need to work hard? Designers may work in their own offices or studios. Designers who are paid by the assignment are under pressure to please existing clients and to find new ones to maintain a steady income.
No matter where you are, the best way forward for all designers is to manage their time and cut the hours they work. It might be a hard choice and a tough decision, but designers must make sure that they are in the right place of work. Examining what they do for the sake of their living requirements and examining the relationship between their job and their time, their impact on community, their joy and finally fulfilment.
They must judge where their job will lead them and what they should do best.
Most designers neglect the fact that recording many hours of work and a good portfolio will do nothing if their personal life is getting worse or falling apart. The importance for them is to look after work practices. They should look after practices that help them to integrate them into their job. It is the way they manage their days and working hours. What is important for them is to develop their working life at the expense of their personal life. Their priorities should be to manage their time carefully so that it benefits their careers without wasting time on peripheral activities with no benefit.
Could you plan your day and keep a daily diary of activity?
Could you identify your progress and any wasted time?
This will help you in knowing the best working methods, and how many hours you can work and still make progress, (how to do a work at a time not many) what interruptions or distractions you allow yourself at work (chatting, looking at Facebook, replying to mobile calls), how to complete your task and how to be free from stress and uneasiness or apprehension.
This will be obtained by organising your diary (personal diary), if you do not have it create one and make it clear, and stick to your daily agenda. Organise your environment at work, by not allowing clutter to exist around you. Clear it or organise it. Write short reports daily. It is tempting to ‘get going’ first thing in the morning, so feel like you are getting things done, where it takes you 10 minutes or less to review your diary and decide how you plan to tackle commitments.
Practice self-brainstorming, allow yourself to focus on the priorities, your needs and consider important things and pick up on all those loose ends. This way you will be able to plan your diary.
You will find that you love yourself the way you love your work. It will be reflected in the way you produce work; work which shows your joy, desire, interest - and you will find your working life fulfilled. Everything will change by controlling your time, effectiveness, distraction rate and your work flexibility.
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