Being connectedDesign Council Sounding Board

19 May 2014William Perrin – a personal view

@willperrin

http://talkaboutlocal.org.uk/stronger-digital-leadership-required-arts-reap-full-value-digital-revolution-evolution/

All expenditure on computer games £2.2 billion

Paid content downloaded to games consoles - £1.17 billion up 17%

West End Theatre receipts - £529 million

UK Box office receipts 2012 - £1.1 billion

DVDS £1.4 billion

Digital Album sales £233 million, all album sales £772m

Total video sales £2.06 billion

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jan/01/uk-entertainment-spending-film-music-streaminghttp://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/announcements/bfi-stats-yearbook-shows-uk-film-excelled-2012

Vast consumer appetite for purely digital products and services with no tangible formIndicates huge utility derived by people from digital attributesDigital products still infra dig. For UK mainstream media commentators. Despite the numbers

Objects with terrible physical design but sublime digital design

Objects with sublime physical design but terrible digital design

Objects that seemed previously to be innately, definitively physical where digital connectivity now adding massive utility for the customer

Sony PRS 500 – early ebook reader2006, launched in UK 2008Nice physical design, leather case etcBut no digital design to back it upSoftware buggyAnd, most importantly few books worth having

Original Kindle2007

UglyBezos kept telling designers to make it like his BlackberryBut sublime digital utility and design overcame hideous physical product design

Beo6 remote control

‘Your Beo6 remote control is like your house key. Your key is cut just for your front door, and suits its purpose exactly. It works as an extension of your hand; not something you have to think about.

‘Your unique Beo6 unlocks exactly your mix of audio and video equipment, whether it is a single BeoVision 7 or a full link system. The same Beo6 can be as simple as you want and as flexible as you need.

£600

Support ecosystem for Beo6

A man and a van has to come to your house just to add a DVD playerHierarchical, B&O in charge, assumes customer is stupid/incapable. Design arrogance out of kilter with modern digital times

User in chargeSelf serviceConnected – database totally up to the minuteSupport forum – assumes users will want to help each otherLoyal followingBut product itself being superceded by phone appshttps://setup.myharmony.com/

View from house in rural OxfordshireRemoteQuietStunning sceneryLovely garden for the kids, safe place for children to playRemote location – no DSL so satellite broadband which is slow

“Your kids will just come to know this as the house with

the shit internet”

…as they grow up

http://daddystractor.com/

Modern contractor’s tractor will have several screens

Tractors one of many objects being transformed by connections to networks and control devices

Big data now becoming an issue for arable and dairy farmers

Huge and valuable new class of services that are innately digital with little or no physical manifestion

Increasingly utility of objects arises from their ability to connect to networks

Bad physical design can be outweighed by brilliant digital design

Objects previously unconnected to networks are starting to get connected

But often do so in a clunky way with poor design

Can give rise to whole new range of issues

Digital capability will be key differentiator of future products and services

Do you think your company, your organisation, your sector has the right digital leadership?

How are digital issues affecting your business, products, services, customers

Do your boards have the digital people?

Do your executive teams have digital makers and doers

Where would you go for help if your clients suddenly wanted a strong digital component to their products or services?

How do you recruit digital talent?

How can design be put at the core of digital products and services?

What can the Design Council do to help?