FORTY-SIX

Image © Jose & MidJourney

I’m a big fan of John Maeda. His journey is full of great stories of serendipity and hard work, from a student at the MIT, to professor at the MIT Media Lab, then CEO of the Rhode Island School of Design, a stint with Venture Capital, then Advertising, then Resilience Management, and now at Microsoft as Head of Computational Design. Always with one foot in technology and the other in art & design, always open to change, curious about the future, human centric to the core. I met him once in person in NYC at the Fortune Design conference, we talked and connected, deeply, there was a clear simpatico moment there, he was kind enough to send me an old school handwritten note after that, forever in awe with his humble spirit.

He was in town (Boston) just a few weeks ago to talk at the IT Media Lab, recording below. He went through his journey with the typical humorous approach he uses, maybe to help him feel at ease. Around minute 40:30, he shares something that makes me stop and think. He uses a line graph to explain how we consumed media and information then versus now, he describes it as feeling the ‘ouch’ twice a day versus now where we feel the ‘ouch’ every second because we are always online, and he says ”if experience hurts, it’s going to ‘ouch’ all day long”, he goes on to explain that user experience design grew from the mobile use in this new paradigm shift.

Two things came to mind, perhaps disparate, perhaps not.

In the 1980’ when we were all bombarded with images of the Ethiopian famine and we had Band Aid (1984) and Live Aid (1985) raising our consciousness on the topic, while it mobilized a vast number of resources, long-term impact on systemic changes was limited (they are still in the news due to political instability and social challenges). Beyond that, research and data suggest that repeated exposure to distressing images of this type can lead to desensitization or compassion fatigue. So, basically, if you see others ‘ouching’ all the time, you become insensitive to their experience, you normalize it.

The two years that preceded the year 2000 were full of hope (beyond the fear of Y2K, that is). There were countless stories, future visions, a period of widespread reflection and anticipation about what the next millennium might bring. It was going to be human-centric at the core, there was a push for sustainability, an expectation of balanced technology push, a promise of spiritual and ethical renewal. Let’s just say that this optimistic vision remains an aspiration, we are still battling with pressing inequalities and existential risks, the power of capital, the potential for technology misuse and the influence of individualism versus the collective well-being feel like unsurmountable obstacles. So, basically, if we feel like we don’t matter as human beings, we become insensitive to our own experience, we normalize it. We normalize the other’s ‘ouch’ experience, and we normalize our own ‘ouch’ experience.

Where does that leave Design?

– If we live in a world where people are resigning to “just deal with it”, how can Design promote the idea of creating a more humane, thoughtful world based on inspiring experiences, without sounding frivolous and irrelevant?

– If there is a belief that enduring hardship is inevitable, that reality should drive solutions to become utilitarian, immediate and low-cost, how can Design alleviate pain with smart, simple and beautiful solutions that promote attention to detail and love for quality?

– If endurance is perceived as strength, will Design’s approach and focus on questioning and listening be seen as a weakness or indulgence?

– If Design is still not understood as a systemic agent, but rather a tool for embellishing and tweaking what already exists, how can Design show off its strategic capabilities and outcome-driven processes that address societal challenges?

I don’t have complete answers for this, but I know this means we still have a lot of work ahead of us. And while John Maeda has done an incredible journey, we still must travel our own journey to change and transform the future in line with the vision for this new millennium, quitting is not an option.