Image source: ‘Post Apocalypse’ by micadew, CCL

Writers, filmmakers, and game designers have always been exploring the ways terrible crises could reshape our world and the day-to-day life of humans.

From the apocalyptic plague of Mary Shelley’s The Last Man to the unrecognisable seascape (and terrible acting) of Waterworld, there are thousands of detailed fictional worlds where humanity struggles to survive.

By looking at these stories, we can learn a lot about the way people behave and how we can design better products for them.

ORYXAND

CRAKE

One example:

Image source: ‘onthecar’ by Lebovox, CCL

The two bottom layers on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs become more pressing, meaning users will seek to fulfill those before tending to ones that are higher up.

People pause their quests for self-actualisation and finding love, and concentrate on pure survival.

After the apocalypse, the all those Pokemon Go server troubles might seem a bit more trivial, but that battery drain might be the difference between life and death.

A semi-automatic assault rifle, while ridiculously effective at decimating the zombie hordes, quickly becomes a huge pain when you realise that it only works if you use one very specific type of ammo.

And that repair and maintenance without the proper equipment is pretty much impossible.

Also, it’s unnecessarily loud, and the zombies will hear you.

“[Sinclair points above my head to the opposite wall. On it hangs a heavy steel rod ending in what looks like a fusion of shovel and double-bladed battle-axe. Its official designation is the Standard Infantry Entrenchment Tool, although, to most, it is known as either the ‘Lobotomizer,’ or simply, the ‘Lobo.’]

The leathernecks came up with that one, using nothing but the steel of re-cycled cars. We made twenty-three million during the war.

[He smiles with pride.]

And they’re still making them today.”

- Max Brooks, World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War-z

The Lobotomizer, or “Lobo”, was created out of necessity by Marines during the zombie war

The Lobo was first and foremost a melee weapon, used to destroy the brain of a zombie in close quarters land combat.

It could also be used as a shovel and general purpose utility tool.

The Lobo reduced the amount that people needed to carry, and allowed them to defend themselves immediately instead of switching from a tool to a weapon.

It should. In fact, the Lobotomizer was inspired by the entrenching tool used during World War I.

Entrenching tools were collapsible spades issued to soldiers, used to dig makeshift cover and shelter

In the close confines of trench warfare, they were often used as a rudimentary melee weapon. In fact, many soldiers would sharpen the edges of their entrenching tools to make them more deadly

Though never intended as a weapon, the simplicity and ubiquity of these tools made them well suited to the task of personal defence.

You’re on your own You need to be able to use or create something without anyone’s help. (That Ikea bookshelf might need to be put on hold for a bit.)

There’s limited availability of basic resources, such as food, water, and materials to create things

Products need to be basic, sturdy, and easy to fix

You need to be able to use what’s around you, since just popping down to the shop won’t really be an option anymore.

You won’t have access to experts like mechanics or engineers

It’s always fun to have a chat about our favourite bits of pop culture, but we don’t want you to have to wait around for the end of the world to have any practical use for this talk.

Instead we’ll be using these post-apocalyptic scenarios to help you design for the terrible things that happen in real life.

To those of us who haven’t experienced it, it can be very difficult to understand what it’s like for someone in the midst of a disaster, and we want to enable you to design tools that can really help people when those situations do come along.

Senior Experience DesignerAnalogFolk, London

Experience DesignerAnalogFolk, London