An introduction to emerging technology
The design community does not have to simply react to emerging technologies. It can choose to proactively influence the research community to address topics that will have a really beneficial impact on product and service features in the future.
When designing new products or services we are able to draw on a huge stock of proven techniques, components and technologies. They can be combined in numerous different ways to allow us new design freedoms, but also impose limits on what we can achieve. For example, the design freedom to incorporate flat-screen displays into a product is available to us, but the freedom to incorporate anti-gravity drives is not…yet.
Good design will utilise the latest design freedoms in innovative ways that are uniquely suited to each application. This can give a product a significant, competitive edge.
Technology is the key. Most of the freedoms that we routinely take for granted were at one stage exciting and novel concepts that could only be realised through a step change in technology.
A digital camera illustrates both the familiar and the new. Solid-state memory chips and high-resolution image detectors are essential for its functionality and have only become available in commercial volumes in the last decade. But we now take for granted the equally important high-precision moulding technology that allows us to design attractive, lightweight and structurally complex camera bodies.
We have also become accustomed to the use of miniature motors that drive the zoom and focussing mechanisms which can be incorporated in increasingly compact designs. But micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), with mechanical properties delivered at the microchip scale allow us to package yet more functionality into smaller volumes.
Further examples abound in packaging. Designs routinely use what were once exotic blends of polymers to produce complex one-piece containers with inbuilt tamper-proof mechanisms and other security features, for example for pharmaceuticals. New smart materials, incorporating sensing, intelligence and communications capability will in future allow containers to interact with the environment and the user. What was previously regarded as dumb packaging will eventually be capable of enhancing many of the features of the product.
The internet is an obvious example of technology enablement. In the last decade there has been an explosion in online services such as banking, shopping and encyclopaedic information sources. The current emerging technologies associated with wireless and mobile communications mean that a whole new swathe of products and services will become web-enabled. New solutions for healthcare, crime prevention, and flexible working will become technologically possible. Designers need to keep abreast of developments to ensure that user-centred solutions are delivered rather than technological nightmares.
In more depth
Want to know how to create more user-centred solutions? Read our article on
user-centred design by expert Alison Black
So the implications of emerging technologies for design have already been considerable, and the pace of change is quickening. By tracking and understanding today's emerging technologies we can predict what new design freedoms they will give us in the future. Informed anticipation is essential to cutting-edge design.