Lesson 2 — Design and Research (Observational Research)
Successful Technology is invisible
Smart Phone, IOT product and Connected Device are the must-have items for everyone in anywhere. No matter how much you eat, walk, run, travel and sleep, people are still connected.
Photo Research
My focus is on how technology products change the people. On my first insight, I would expect the change to be significant, as we understand people’s behaviour has changed by Smart Phone.
We searched Hong Kong photos in the past from the web and compared them with current Hong Kong Photos. We did not find a significant change in the people. It makes me think that Great Technology is invisible (Fast Company, 2012).
Pic, 1990 Mong Kok (@HKThenAndNow #, 2021)
Pic, 2021 Mong Kok
However, we understand that their products have revolutionary changes, those products have “added’’ a lot of innovation functions, all of them have connected functions and “add” a feature to make our life more convenient. Such as,
- Phone → Smartphone
Added: GPS, e-mail, maps, a million of apps …etc
2. Watch → Smart Watch
Added: Step Count, Heart rate monitor, Phone …. etc
3. Car → Smart Car
Added: Autopilot, GPS, Parking sensors.
Analysis
I would like to use “the research in design” tool to analyze my findings.
Plus
1. Connected Devices embedded function and feature into our existing product.
Minus
No, Connected Drives do not reduce any feature from existing products, just enhance their features. Such as, the phone is not only for voice calls, it can be e-mail, play games… etc.
Multiply
1. Connected Devices have multiplied with different products, but it is embedded with your existing device.
Such as, Smartphone has multiplied with camera, map….etc
Divides
Maybe, Some of the features have totally changed.
Such as, The Main feature of a phone is voice call, but a smartphone is not.
What is insight?
My main finding is that Successful Technology is invisible and embedded into our existing product. This finding makes me think about how we can add the feature on our shoes, our shirts to generate new ideas.
For example, adding the scale into my shoes, we can monitor our weight all the time for people on diet. Adding mechanism and monitor into the shoe to enhance the performance on the sport.
Bibliography
Fast Company. Exclusive: New Wisdom From Steve Jobs On Technology, Hollywood, And How “Good Management Is Like The Beatles”, Fast Company, 17 4 2012, https://www.fastcompany.com/1829788/exclusive-new-wisdom-steve-jobs-technology-hollywood-and-how-good-management-beatles. Accessed 8 7 2021.
@HKThenAndNow. Hong Kong, Society & culture website, 2021, https://www.facebook.com/HKThenAndNow/. Accessed 08 07 2021.