2018:51 What I learned this week

This article amuses me because I initially found the pivot from a dating app to content-creation to be a surprising expansion. What was also interesting to me is the value proposition and messaging these platforms are trying to get across --mostly because I never thought about what they were trying to sell other than romantic prospects:

Bumble is selling itself as a means to personal betterment and greater sophistication. 

Tinder wants to reinforce the idea that dating misadventures are cool, or at least exciting, invigorating and youthful. (Swipe Life says downloading Tinder is a milestone in human life akin to buying your first beer and losing your virginity.

Read it here!
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/style/dating-apps-tinder-bumble-content.html

If you're curious:
Tindr: Swipe Life
Bumble: the Beehive
Grindr: Into

2018:46 What I learned this week

Value of design, with real numbers!
I am a service designer and I work with organizations at the company-level to help them make decisions and investments about design for the organization. It involves creating strategy and vision at a level that can provide both direction and development. I felt that the McKinsey's article was a good articulation and nuance to the elusive "How does [company name] become a more design-centric/customer-focused organization?" question. (see quote below) Also! We now have up-to-date stats on the ROI of design!

With no clear way to link design to business health, senior leaders are often reluctant to divert scarce resources to design functions. That is problematic because many of the key drivers of the strong and consistent design environment identified in our research call for company-level decisions and investments.

Read it here:
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-design/our-insights/the-business-value-of-design


A resource for designers to support non-profits with their skills
I stumbled across this, and I found this to be an interesting model. As part of an AIGA committee, I feel like this could be one way we could position our initiative.
It is essentially a resource for non-profits to find designers to help support their cause, and it's great because design is often the last thing that non-profits are worried about or focused on when it comes to limited resources. Also! They are very clear about expectations upfront! (e.g. This is a 12 week time commitment, this is a website redesign, etc)
https://visiblealliance.org/


Government and machine learning
On a totally different theme, three great examples about government applying machine learning, as well as best use cases within different industries. A good skim!
https://www.kdnuggets.com/2017/08/ibm-top-10-machine-learning-use-cases-part1.html

2018:44 What I learned this week

It's interesting to see how we went from a technology all-in approach to education as a positive thing to a more tempered approach. The idea here that intrigues me is that human interaction is becoming a luxury.

This "digital divide" can be seen in the possibility that poorer and middle-class children will be raised by screens, while the children of Silicon Valley’s elite will be going back to wooden toys and the luxury of human interaction.

Also! Currently, lower income teenagers spend more hours on a screen than their higher income counterparts.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/26/style/digital-divide-screens-schools.html

Kids in Utah are doing online learning before kindergarten. They're making a bet that kids can learn what they need to learn before kindergarten
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/preschool-is-good-for-poor-kids-but-its-expensive-so-utah-is-offering-it-online/2015/10/09/27665e52-5e1d-11e5-b38e-06883aacba64_story.html

A neat chrome extension, and great for UX and empathy building. Experience the web through the eyes of users with different abilities!

https://www.funkify.org/

2018:34 What I learned this week

This is a fun watch about animal experiments that show their understanding of fairness, empathy, and reciprocity --Changing beliefs that animals once were only capable and motivated by competition.
https://www.npr.org/2014/08/15/338936897/do-animals-have-morals

I've been doing some light research on hospitals from the point of view of service designers, and came across two "tours"! These are interesting because you can see some of the space, logistics, and technology choices they make for patients and staff. There are two, one is a community hospital in the US, and the other is a dutch teaching hospital with an internal innovation center (like Mayo CFI)
Community hospital https://medium.com/hsxd-healthcare-systems-by-design/field-trip-a-us-community-hospital-4834eec8a16f
Dutch hospital: https://medium.com/hsxd-healthcare-systems-by-design/first-impressions-a-dutch-hospital-ab8a70c898e3

2018:26 What I learned this week

In the past 15 years, demand has increased but our trade routes have not changed and what successfully been used to transport food and goods to cities, is becoming more strained. An interesting look at "chokepoints" in our global food system.
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-food-trade-chokepoints/

A digital platform in Barcelona enables citizens to participate in government and takes back public data ownership from companies, to government. This is an interesting strategy and one that can turn out hopeful! (or harmful)
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/barcelona-decidim-ada-colau-francesca-bria-decode

2018:01 What I learned this week

Effective methods and small solutions to dealing with stress as a designer
https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2017/12/dealing-with-stress-designer-what-research-says

The Instant-pot! A few of my friends got this for Christmas, whereas I have never even heard of it until now. If you don't feel like reading, scroll past all the text and pause at the image of the oven being boarded up and replaced by a cooking gadget 1/10th its size. Is that what kitchens will evolve into as we run out of real estate?
https://www.theringer.com/tech/2017/12/27/16822948/year-of-the-instant-pot-amazon-fandom