Design Through the Looking Glass: Reflections on the Future of Technology in 2017

by the argo design studio

This past year we experienced breakthroughs in AI, video, Internet of Things, voice technology and much more. Yet 2017 is already proving to be the year where many of these new technologies truly take off. To start off the new year, the argo design team predicts 10 of the biggest breakthroughs that will transform our experiences with technology, society and each other in the year ahead.

1. Alexa Gets all GUI

There are already reports that Amazon is looking at giving Alexa a 7" screen. We think we will see this in 2017. While Alexa’s voice interface is useful, there is a point where that usefulness quickly ends. Asking for a recipe or reviewing a list becomes a tedious exercise in attentive listening. Cortana and Siri have a head start on this, and Alexa will look to catch up with the addition of a screen interface.

The design principle at work here is Asymmetrical UI. The symmetry of ask in voice, get a response in voice, breaks down quickly. Instead, we will want to ask in voice and get a response in whatever technology best suits the response. This might come in the form of a text message, an action (a light turning on, for example) or a Graphic User Interface. A 7’’ screen would be an interesting stopgap while Amazon figures out how to broadcast a response to whatever screen is near you.

2. Snapchat Spectacles Throw Shade on Google Glass

Google Glass was positioned as a kind of wearable computer. As such, the use cases for Google Glass were a little cloudy and left users asking, “why would I wear a computer on my face?” But in 2016, Snapchat introduced Spectacles. Spectacles work because they allow the most aspirational of human uses: to see things through someone else’s eyes. Snapchat has managed to put narcissism and empathy in the same stylish package.

Recording as a function has also seen growth where it has strong purpose. Good examples are dash cams in Russia (where insurance scams are common) or body cameras on police officers. Livestreaming has finally taken off as well. Now that it is a button on Facebook, our mothers do it. Recording is its own trend, and Snapchat just made a perfect move as the groundswell continues. The purpose is capturing memories through your own, first person perspective. Experiences like flying a plane or spending time with friends.

Successful smart glasses are about more than just styling and prescription lenses. In 2017, we’ll see more smart glass companies including Google Glass pivot to a focus on capturing unique and memorable moments, an area Spectacles is succeeding already in 2017. Snapchat’s UX trinity of aligning their brand, platform and users will continue to catch on as other wearable gadget makers follow on their heels. What makes Spectacles so successful? The experience of wearing them is synonymous with fun. You put them on when you go out to enjoy the world.

3. Headphones Get Augmented

What is now a plague of oversized fashion statements will get computing power and useful features. Audio environment tailoring will become a category. From the ability to EQ your world to playful voice substitution or sound effects, augmenting audio will integrate into our head jewelry.

But it won’t end there. Personal assistants will make their debut as dedicated units inside the headphones. Integrating Siri or Amazon’s Echo is too obvious to not happen soon. Someone will put this equation together in 2017 and debut a non-tethered personal assistant that lives entirely in a set of headphones.

4. The Race of Man versus Machine

Formula E (or maybe The Grand Tour) will stage a race between a Human Driver and an Autonomous vehicle. Like the horse versus steam carriage races of last century, the match will answer the question that is on a lot of people’s mind: is AI capable of replacing us behind the wheel? Unlike Kasparov and Big Blue, this will be watchable and will happen (hopefully) at the Circuit of the Americas in argo’s backyard. Watson will be the machine driver working out the best line for Team-AI. The Stig will reemerge and drive for Team Human.

5. Banking and Finance Will Clash With A New Generation of Spenders

Banking will start to undergo major changes as more retail locations begin to accept smartphone payments. Apple and the banking industry will begin to look at each other as competitors more than partners. Millennials’ distrust for financial institutions and Wall Street in general will drive tangible effect in the banking and broker system (for instance, the Robinhood App will likely either IPO or be bought). However, behind the changing face of finance, big banks will continue to be the primary benefactors and will acquire the successful innovators.

6. A Parking Garage Built for Just Cars

Currently garages are built for humans, but the proliferation of piloted parking will cause people to build garages only for cars. One built for a car only has to be a few inches taller than the car, and the spaces inches apart. In 2017, a luxury condo will convert a few floors to car-only and reclaim a few more floors for new condos. Residents will be encouraged to buy cars that can park themselves. Eventually this trend will find its way into home building with more compact car sized garages.

7. Say Goodbye to Twitter As We Know It

Twitter has gone from social media darling to stock-plunging platform experiencing a mass exodus from its top talent this past year. Ads have emerged, and the once admired brevity now is subject to the rudeness of threads. They face the challenge of being asked to censor the President-Elect of the United States, identify terrorists and kowtow to foreign governments’ demands to silence dissidents.

In the coming year, we’ll see the False News movement lead to more censorship, removing the activist use of the platform. Increased use of bots and Chat UI will make it a difficult place to establish human connection any longer.

Fueled by political polarization, and already struggling, Twitter will continue to devolve into an online version of the Lord of the Flies. Disney or Microsoft will buy it and turn it into a more targeted platform. Our vote is Disney.

8. Conversational UI Eats the App Market

Conversational UI dipped its toe in the water in 2016, but will become much more prevalent in 2017. The model for apps has exhausted its range of usefulness and will be overshadowed by conversational interfaces that offer smaller bites of interaction without the overhead of a full downloaded application. These interfaces will also offer more humanistic interactions and better integration into everyday life.

The new interfaces will attempt to work with us through more informal and conversational means, leading to interesting new interactions and likely more chatty, irritating and overzealous conversations. The concept of the uncanny valley is once again on display.

Machine learning will become more useful in everyday circumstances. We will experience AI through vertical services such as shopping and healthcare. In the meantime, general purpose AI will continue to be a longer term challenge. However, society will continue to aggressively adopt this technology, making it an extension of ourselves, acting as an advisor to our behavior and decisions.

9. The Year We Create the Hybrid Analog + Digital Self. The Meta-Me.

Over the last few years, we’ve seen the rise of Big Data and growing consumer interest in their own data — e.g. tracking calories, sleep patterns, and more. In the future, this massive amount of data we’ve generated and stockpiled will be used to its best advantage: creating more human and relatable experiences. Data can be used to qualitatively enhance our experiences with technology and lead to a personable visual display of our human behavior within a system interface. 2017 will also see an increase in data being used to compare personal experiences with experiences of the majority.

This evolution toward humanness in technology will be expressed through machines, which will take on more human affectations and gestures to make digital experiences more relatable. For example, Google logo dots may animate in various ways that mimic human gestures to convey ‘listening,’ ‘user speaking,’ and ‘thinking.’

10. Trivial Invention Has Run Its Course.2017 Will Be About Value.

For the last ten years, the rapid growth in apps and electronic gadgets has propelled a consumer and investment market driven by trivialities. Too much talent and money went towards questionable purposes. While many of these products have certainly been entertaining additions to our lives, the long term ROI is suspect and too many important problems were left unsolved. Looking back, we ask ourselves, “what did we create that was truly valuable to society?” Not enough. 2017 will mark a turning point where investors and innovators recognize the dwindling market for gadgets and turn their talents towards bigger, more useful inventions. We have yet to solve many of the most important challenges in healthcare, government, energy, privacy, and security. We love our gadgets, but our hope is that the market sees more balance this year.