laurenpeterss-blog

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Phsyics of the Future - Michio Kaku

"The key to understanding the future, is to grasp the fundamental laws of nature and then apply them to the inventions, machines, and therapies that will redefine our civilization far into the future." - Michio Kaku

We don’t yet fully understand any may never fully understand (in our lifetimes) the entirety of the ‘fundamental laws of nature.’ Because of this, we must assume that our contributions to the future are extremely limited and we must continue to search for answers outside of our rational selves.

As such, the evolution of the meaning behind ‘the fundamental laws of nature’ should be considered in the following perspectives:

Understanding that today’s forms of measurement are limited and thus, determine what we are able and not able to discover

Constantly testing and finding new forms of scientific measurement quantitatively but most importantly, qualitatively…as well as the combination of the two

Ask ourselves how newer ‘laws of nature’ will change human value systems today and in the future

Continue researching and testing concepts in fringe science

..inventions, machines, and therapies. What this statement does not address are the social and metaphysical aspects of human life and our spiritual contribution to the laws of nature. It boils down to the energetic yin & yang, the masculine vs the feminine and reminds us to find a balance between the two in order to thrive.

This statement also fails to recognize that the theory of everything (Kaku introduces the theory of everything earlier in his text) includes…quite literally…everything – everything as connected entities that contribute to a whole…a sum of its parts. This goes far beyond economic growth models that thrive on new inventions, machines, and therapies and suggests a model of growth driven by technology that is combined with spirituality, holistic living, community, and giving back.

I would love to hear your responses to this!

#futures #spirituality #feminist #strategic foresight

[laurenpeterss-blog]

What Seth Godin said:

Self service requires information, which requires design

Consider travel as an example:

If you've arranged the flights on the monitor in order of flight time, not destination, requiring me to stop and take out my ticket, you have failed.

If you've hidden the room numbers (or given them fancy names) so that only an employee can find the right spot, you've failed as well.

The label on prescription drugs, the instructions post-doctor visit, the manual for using software or putting together furniture--if we're getting rid of service and turning it into self-service, we owe it to our newly deputized employees (our customers) to give them the tools they need to not need us.

Sure, you need someone in charge of customer service. But you also need someone in charge of service design. Someone responsible for fixing what's broken, not merely apologizing for it again and again.

It's not cheap, but it's way cheaper than answering the phone or annoying the people who pay our bills.

June 4, 2013

#service design #design thinking #service innovation

[laurenpeterss-blog]

Writing Futures Scenarios

Our Design Futures class is in the midst of creating several abstracts that fit within four different types of worlds. My group chose "low educational quality with low financial and social success of the south" as our world. The following abstract combines several drivers: decline of personal privacy, introduction of new classes, rising sea levels, rise of apprenticeship models in education.

"Education is different in the south, as ordered by the US govt. In other regions, education is for problem solving generalists/business designers/and leaders. The south is for people who want to become specialists in a certain field (The creation of workers (modern slaves) to help with unemployment) Its no longer about racism but now about regionalism. Texas succeeded 10 years prior and are now the scariest people in North America, and the south uses this to their advantage. The south cannot afford other regional tech so they are forced to begin creating their own tech that is 'underground' and not regulated by the Govt. Texas and the south trade tech secrets and resources as Southern education begins introducing critical thinking back into the system, unbeknownst to Govt. This creates pressure to revolt against other regions, but the south is stuck as to what they will do if they win the revolution, and Texas sure as hell doesn't want them. How will education play a part in this economical condition?This story will be led by Isabel, a boyish 12 year old who is seen as an adult to those around her. She has a boyfriend in Louisiana who is a techie that works with Texans to trade secrets, and a girlfriend who works as a virtual prostitute in Atlanta. This triad relationship and the important characters introduced throughout her education is the social support structure Isabel needs in order to begin asking the right questions that will help push the southern region into a revolution."

#design futures #strategic foresight #scenario planning

[laurenpeterss-blog]

The Future of Education in The American South - Year 2050 Here are a few process pictures of our team's progress searching for relevant news, drivers, and trends related to the future of Southern education. Tomorrow, we have a Skype visit from Frank and Yvette from Kedge Futures where they'll help us prepare for our next steps! 

#futures #design futures #strategic foresight #scenario planning #kedgefutures

[laurenpeterss-blog]

Futures: Trends / Counter Trends Exercise

For my Futures Design & Foresight Strategy class, we are slowly getting into the groove by reading lots of books, scanning the interwebs, and identifying trends within a series of landscapes (social, technological, environmental, economical, political, legal, to name a few). I haven't blogged in a while so I thought I would update with an excerpt from my most recent trend writing exercise:

In America, Micro-homes have been gaining interest as a result of lifestyle simplification and stylization followed by the housing crash of 2008. It has allowed homeowners the benefit of affordability in both purchase prices and maintenance costs as well as an opportunity to contribute to lowering their carbon footprint. Interest in micro-homes has also been increasing in places such as China and Japan where space comes at a premium.

Since the technology boom, family life in America is also slowly changing which has directly influenced the spaces they live in. The Nuclear Family definition is no longer a norm as people are either minimizing their family numbers or completely choosing to live alone.

As society keeps growing and becoming more connected through technology, people are creating groups that are no longer based on biological families, roommates or sororities, but rather based on interests. These people are flocking to the same work spaces, play spaces, and living spaces, ultimately creating the counter-trend of Interest-based Community-homes. Rather than focusing on one micro-home that only caters to the individual, these groups of people are combining their micro-homes to create an organism of functional spaces that make up their shared home.

The community-homes allow them to be a new kind of functional family that pushes one another to be the best in their field. They do not, however, stay in one community indefinitely. As individual interests grow and evolve, people can switch to another community-home with different interests that better serve them.

#futures #strategic foresight #design futures #trends #scenario planning #forecasting

[laurenpeterss-blog]

Forsyth Art Splash 2013 For those of you who weren't able to make it to last week's Forsyth Art Splash event that we held in Forsyth Park, please enjoy the video our Prototyping class put together (in only 3 days!). 

#service design #experience design #prototyping

[laurenpeterss-blog]

Before, During, & After the Brainstorm We've been working with a client on a process optimization project and got the idea to prototype the prototype that we will video this Saturday. Instead of writing a To-do list of things to make, we just made rough 1st versions of the list instead. Video will be posted soon :)

#service design #prototyping

[laurenpeterss-blog]

As part of my upcoming workshop series "Workplace Beauty" I've prepared a set of 5 Beauty Principles that guide me as a working woman :) The first workshop will consist of education and exercises around makeup application, colors, and matching. I hope to see you there! (November 8 @5-8pm SCAD Gulfstream Grad-space)

5 Principles of being Beautiful 1. You can't buy genuine beauty. 2. Being beautiful takes work...don't worry, it's not about being consistent, it's about adapting to how you feel each day. 3. Ground yourself. 4. Indulge in something. Be naughty. Do something you're not supposed to...because Beauty is bad ass. 5. If you want people to take you seriously, YOU must take you seriously.

#design thinking #user experience #service design #workshops #scad

[laurenpeterss-blog]

E-Wasted Send us your junk. We get drunk. You get a sweet robot.

Cheers to my second video ever made :) Still have lots to learn, the process is really fun and when it all comes together it almost feels like a newborn child.

#servicedesign #prototyping #e-waste

[laurenpeterss-blog]

Platinum Security is a mobile-based service that lets you rent guard-certified everyday-people as bodyguards for the night.

You know how much in-awe you are when you see those awesome designer experience videos and you think "Man I wish I could make one of those."? Well, take a look at my group and I's first video ever. Not bad for a first try. We had a LOT of fun making it :)

We had a weekend to develop, shoot, and produce a service video. We did iterate, and some how the iteration took longer, but we learned a lesson about editing - just like form modeling in product design, you often have to start from scratch to really *get it right*

#service deisgn #prototyping #experienceprototyping

[laurenpeterss-blog]

If you were totally customer focused, then you simply wouldn't care which channel the customer chooses, you'd make sure it was the best experience every time, regardless.

On the branchless bank - Bank 3.0

#banking #service design #customer experience #thesis

[laurenpeterss-blog]

"We must learn that human action is consistent with incentives and that it is crucial to understand whether incentives encourage us to act virtuously or destructively. Implied government guarantees create incentives to think short term and to take irrational risk, which inflicts costs that are invariably paid by others who are innocent."

The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure by John A. Allison

#thesis

[laurenpeterss-blog]

SD delivers a way of thinking that can handle clients whose business models imploded and no longer fit with how people want to use/consume things. SD gives us processes and thinking that’s flexible enough to give designers opportunities for innovation that haven’t existed before and go way beyond the UX.

Service Design Goes Mainstream @ Made By Many

#service design #user experience #UX

[laurenpeterss-blog]

What Can Service Design Do For Your Company?

#service design

[laurenpeterss-blog]

Sleep Culture Insights

As you can see from my previous post, we've been having a blast affinitizing the data discovered through our research phase. Here is an example of one of our first sleepy time insights as we analyze the rest:

Insight 1 / "Reflection Causes Zzzzs" Because of the lack of restful sleep, users are often triggered to monitor their sleep patterns through natural reflection, technology, and other forms of sleep logs. There is an opportunity to offer more integrated methods that can enhance self discovery and reflection.

How might we.... ..educate users about the benefits of reflection ..inspire users to explore their own patterns ..provide entry points to self discovery methods ..provide more accessible methods that are enjoyable to stick with ..build trust with users to influences long-term and consistent use ..build methods into existing and related routines

More to come!

#design research #sleep industry

[laurenpeterss-blog]

Spent the weekend affinitizing our data from the sleep culture interviews. One more week left but the project is JUST starting to get interesting, we don’t want it to end!

#design research #affinitizing

[laurenpeterss-blog]

#prototyping the farmers market booth for #huntercattle

#prototyping #huntercattle