Communications in Humanities Research ISSN: 2753-7072
Home> Volumes> Volume CHR Vol.51> Article
Research Article

How Digital Product Designers Can Adapt to a Changing Future to Create both Meaningful, Humanitarian Work and Stay Competitive in the Market

Stella SunCalifornia College of the Arts*

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

In an ever-evolving digital landscape, digital product designers must navigate the tension between staying competitive in the market and creating meaningful, humanitarian work. Through a comparison between literature by leading academic voices and online accounts from current practitioners, insights into past and present patterns are gained to inform potential future trajectories of the budding and evolving profession of digital product design. The results show that digital product designers can adapt to short-term future (defined as roughly 5 years into the future) challenges by investing in skill specialization while preparing for the long-term future (defined as roughly 20 years into the future) by enlarging the scope of their services to take on a more advisory role. Analysis of the gathered data also shows that these designers’ greatest long-term value is their ability to be humanitarian voices and advisors for social good. By integrating both short-term skill specializations and long-term investment into social responsibility, digital product designers can remain relevant and contribute to ethical and sustainable practices in the digital age.

Keywords: digital product design; humanitarian design; future of design; ethical design practices; human-computer interaction (HCI).
Published: November 26, 2024
DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/51/20242422
Volume: CHR Vol.51
pp. 31-36
Download PDF

References

  1. B. Goldense, “A history of product design, ” Machine Design, Mar. 29, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.machinedesign.com/automation-iiot/article/21837666/a-history-of-product-design.
  2. J. Nielsen, “10 Usability heuristics for user interface design, ” Nielsen Norman Group, Apr. 24, 1994. [Online]. Available: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/.
  3. Juul Labs, “Designing with empathy, ” Juul Labs, Jun. 25, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.juullabs.com/guest-post-designing-with-empathy/.
  4. J. Maloney, “Federal prosecutors conducting criminal probe of Juul, ” The Wall Street Journal, Sep. 23, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.wsj.com/articles/federal-prosecutors-conducting-criminal-probe-of-juul-11569268759.
  5. M. L. Gray, “Your humanity is in your hallways: Unpicking empathy in the contemporary corporation, ” Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference Proceedings, vol. 2014, no. 1, pp. 11–24, 2014. doi: 10.1111/epic.12068.
  6. X. Ren, C. Silpasuwanchai, and J. Cahill, “Human-engaged computing: The future of human–computer interaction, ” CCF Transactions on Pervasive Computing and Interaction, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 47–68, 2019. doi: 10.1007/s42486-019-00007-0.
  7. R. Y. Wong and V. Khovanskaya, “Speculative Design in HCI: From Corporate Imaginations to Critical Orientations, ” in New Directions in Third Wave Human-Computer Interaction: Volume 2 - Methodologies, M. Filimowicz and V. Tzankova, Eds. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2018, pp. 169–182.
  8. S. Attari, C. Scull, and M. Harandi, “Leveraging speculative design to re-imagine product roadmaps, ” Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference Proceedings, vol. 2021, no. 1, pp. 190–207, 2021. doi: 10.1111/epic.12068.
  9. United States District Court, Northern District of California, “Facebook Privacy Settlement Information, ” United States District Court, Northern District of California. [Online]. Available: https://www.cand.uscourts.gov/notices/facebook-privacy-settlement-information/.
  10. United Nations Development Programme, “Future-proofing UNDP's work in the digital age, ” UNDP, Aug. 7, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://www.undp.org/digital/blog/future-proofing-undps-work-digital-age.
  11. A. Gupta, “How virtual reality is reshaping the future of industrial product design, ” YourStory, May 2024. [Online]. Available: https://yourstory.com/2024/05/how-virtual-reality-is-reshaping-the-future-of-industrial-product-design.
  12. S. Krishna, “Superpowers? Designers can now code, write PRDs, and understand business metrics, ” LinkedIn, Aug. 10, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/shaiii_superpowers-designers-can-now-code-write-activity-7227677102542610432-oNyk?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop.
  13. M. Shideroff, “I had the honor to be a guest of Anton Gruev on Bloomberg TV Bulgaria “Futurism TV Show, ” LinkedIn, Aug. 6, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/marina-shideroff_digitaltransformation-futurism-ai-activity-7226166913851113472-HsCa/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop.
  14. T. Sainz, “Why product equity has become a business imperative for the future of digital products, ” TechCrunch, Sep. 29, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/29/why-product-equity-has-become-a-business-imperative-for-the-future-of-digital-products/.
  15. K. Venkatesh, “Generative AI: To Prompt or Sprinkle?” LinkedIn, Aug. 10, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/generative-ai-prompt-sprinkle-koushik-venkatesh-taxcc/?trackingId=79IF6PiEQM%2B56CFXFAkmaQ%3D%3D.
  16. S. Raihan, “AI isn’t here to replace designers but to supercharge them, ” LinkedIn, Aug. 9, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/alrayhan_ai-isnt-here-to-replace-designers-but-to-activity-7226883498198941696-bggL?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop.
  17. Siemens, “The future under construction: Building tomorrow's infrastructure with digital twins, ” Siemens, Mar. 5, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.siemens.com/global/en/company/stories/research-technologies/digitaltwin/the-future-under-construction.html.
  18. McKinsey & Company, “Generative AI fuels creative physical product design but is no magic wand, ” Jul. 10, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/generative-ai-fuels-creative-physical-product-design-but-is-no-magic-wand.
  19. T. Tan, “Today's AI isn't just an AI revolution — it's a UX one, ” LinkedIn, Jul. 23, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/todays-ai-isnt-just-revolution-its-ux-one-tara-tan-ungtf/?trackingId=PQcnTvHRRE6DUhNMz7Zhdw%3D%3D.