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Future of XYZ is a bi-weekly interview series that explores big questions about where we are as a world and where we’re going. Through candid conversations with international experts, visionary leaders and courageous changemakers- we provoke new thinking about what's coming down the pipeline on matters related to art & design, science & innovation, culture & creativity.
Future of XYZ is presented by iF Design, a respected member of the international design community and host of the prestigious iF DESIGN AWARD since 1953. The show is also a proud member of the SURROUND Podcast Network. For more information, visit ifdesign.com/XYZ.
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;25;19
Speaker 1
Welcome to the future of X, Y, Z. I'm your host, Lisa Gralnek and together we'll explore big questions about where we are as a world and where we're going, especially in matters related to our in design, science and innovation, culture and creativity. Future of X, y, Z is presented by IFF Design, a respected member of the International Design community since 1953 and host of the prestigious annual If Design Award.
00;00;25;21 - 00;00;34;05
Speaker 1
Future of X, y, Z is also a proud member of the Surround podcast Network available everywhere you get your favorite podcasts and also as video on YouTube.
00;00;34;05 - 00;01;27;16
Speaker 1
Hello and welcome back to a future of X, Y, Z. Today is a special episode because it marks not only the first back after a six month or so hiatus, but it is also the first episode of Season six, which is now being brought to us by IFF Design. We are also a proud member of the Surround Podcast Network and this is our 125th episode of Future of X, Y, Z all around and to kick off all of these milestones, we are super duper honored to welcome podcast host themselves on the Surround Podcast Network, Amy Devers, Josh Rubin and Evan Orensten.
00;01;27;23 - 00;01;32;07
Speaker 1
Thank you guys so much for joining us today.
00;01;32;09 - 00;01;33;27
Speaker 2
Thanks for having us. It's great to be here.
00;01;34;04 - 00;01;35;20
Speaker 3
Yeah, glad to be here.
00;01;35;23 - 00;01;57;28
Speaker 1
Well, I think what we've been talking about doing this episode for a while and it happens to coincide with the new presentation by I of Design that we're going to be talking about a huge topic, but one in which the three of you are extraordinarily well versed over decades of educational background and just major contributions to the world of design.
00;01;58;00 - 00;02;27;04
Speaker 1
So we're going to talk about the future of design. Briefly, as introductions to anyone who doesn't know you. Amy Devers is based in Providence, Rhode Island. She teaches furniture design at the Rhode Island School of Design, known as RIS D, one of the best design schools in the world. She is also the host and producer of Clever, which is an award winning podcast that really talks about the humanity behind design.
00;02;27;10 - 00;02;54;12
Speaker 1
So pertinent to today's conversation always. And Josh and Evan are the co-founders of Cool Hunting. We're going to talk about cool and hype and all the things that play into design bunts and intersectional media platform talking about design. And they too are podcast host of design tangents. Also on the Surround Podcast Network. So thank you, all three of you for being here today.
00;02;54;14 - 00;03;16;22
Speaker 1
Diving in We and Future of X-Y-Z always define the topic first. And so this one is big, design is huge, in fact. So the future of design, let's try to define it and specifically, obviously in the context of your expertise and passions.
00;03;16;24 - 00;03;48;10
Speaker 3
I mean, I'll jump in. I like to think of design really as a framework for decision making. So if you it's the process, right, of evaluating materials, outcomes, desired outcomes, all of the stakeholders needs everything that might go into the pot design is the framework for deciding what is appropriate and what order of operations to employ in order to get yourself to the desired outcome.
00;03;48;16 - 00;03;52;03
Speaker 3
That's how I like to think of design.
00;03;52;05 - 00;04;22;06
Speaker 2
That's a good description. Yeah, I especially like Amy that you call out process. I think process is such a key and important part of design, and I think it's why we've seen so many derivatives of the word design and so many different practices that have the word design in them. What unifies each of those disciplines, whether it's furniture design or interior design or or even design thinking, is that there's process behind it.
00;04;22;09 - 00;04;45;05
Speaker 2
I would just add, you know, we talk a lot about design is problem solving, and it's doing so thinking about the way things are used, where they look, the way they feel, the way we touch them and interact with them. And the design is kind of all encompassing and what excites me most about it is design has been around forever.
00;04;45;05 - 00;05;08;12
Speaker 2
Like so many other things. It tends to be underappreciated in a lot of contexts and cultures, and I really feel like we're entering an era where so many things manifesting at the same time between I physical design, electric vehicle design, so many ways in which the word design is now broader and even more important than it ever has been.
00;05;08;15 - 00;05;15;03
Speaker 2
And equally, a lot of people in those organizations now have a seat at the table instead of just being pushed nine steps down.
00;05;15;03 - 00;05;36;18
Speaker 3
The process like that is done. Crucial piece of this, too, because when the designers have and the creatives have a seat at the table from the beginning, from the outset, then you can really influence the impact of the outcome and you can also socialize the process in such a way that other people can understand and adapt to it and buy in.
00;05;36;21 - 00;06;02;28
Speaker 3
But when you relegate it to a tail end of the process, where it's more about fixture fit, finish icing on the cake esthetics, make it in your head. Really? Yeah. It's you're not really maximizing the benefit of of a design framework or the design process. And so I am super excited. I'm just echoing what you're saying. Evan I'm super excited about that piece of it.
00;06;03;00 - 00;06;23;13
Speaker 1
But there's, there's a lot of talk right now about, you know, let's just call it inclusive design, which of course is accounting for stakeholders beyond who originally, you know, might have been the buyer of something, etc.. I think there's something that you guys have all alluded to in your answers, which is about like what gets us to good design, right?
00;06;23;21 - 00;06;39;18
Speaker 1
And what is the impact of not having good design? I mean, just quickly, I mean, and I don't want to put that kind of black and white thinking on good versus not good design, but the process, the decision making, like how do you end up with the best outcome?
00;06;39;21 - 00;07;03;28
Speaker 2
I mean, I think that including like thinking about who is going to experience the end design has always been part of the process, right? Thinking about the if we're talking about digital stuff, the end user thinking about the, you know, the person in the home, thinking about the person in the car or whatever the whatever the medium as you're designing for, of course, we think about the ultimate experience of design.
00;07;04;00 - 00;07;33;27
Speaker 2
I think we've seen an increase in including those call them stakeholders, I guess in the process, largely influenced by digital design and the ability to monitor the use of something. Once we put it out in the world and iterate and release updates to that thing that we've designed. And I think how we've seen an evolution of software apps, operating systems.
00;07;34;01 - 00;08;06;16
Speaker 2
I mean, I'm my background is in user experience design. So of course this is the first category that I think of. But I do believe that we've entered a you know, we're well into a time period where every design discipline understands that there's a value to iteration and that there's an opportunity to be more inclusive beyond the original stakeholders that we think we're creating something for and to to create next and new versions of things.
00;08;06;17 - 00;08;10;04
Speaker 2
It's not a one and done process anymore.
00;08;10;06 - 00;08;31;24
Speaker 3
No, it iterates, I think, and I think one of there's a couple of things I want to point out. One of them is that you mentioned a buyer, and I think we're not we don't we don't have to think of design in terms of outputs for buyers. Like, good design enhances society. Good design is something that nobody people don't want to throw away.
00;08;31;25 - 00;09;06;00
Speaker 3
So what is the original buyer might be somebody who inherits this or something that gets handed around and reused or repurposed. I don't think we have to think of this in terms of the market. I think good design is something that addresses a problem like loneliness or disenfranchisement or upcoming like, you know, housing anxiety, which is going to, you know, result in a kind of itinerant nature.
00;09;06;02 - 00;09;25;15
Speaker 3
Good design anticipates that and solves for it in a way that isn't about trying to sell more product, but it's about trying to actually heal the part that needs the healing. I think, yeah, go ahead.
00;09;25;18 - 00;09;48;26
Speaker 2
So one thing that's really interesting to me is I always think about it's hard not to think about Italy when we think about design. And I know you both have been to an online design week, and I think one of the things that's lacking, especially in the U.S., is any kind of education, information, introduction, exposure to design is doesn't exist at an early age, at an early age, you know school choice and.
00;09;49;01 - 00;09;57;18
Speaker 3
217 episodes of Clever in and almost everyone that I've talked to said, I stumbled into it. I didn't know design was a profession.
00;09;57;21 - 00;09;59;28
Speaker 2
And that's it's.
00;10;00;00 - 00;10;01;27
Speaker 3
Terrible. It's baffling to me.
00;10;01;27 - 00;10;28;10
Speaker 2
But I'm in Milan, which is the biggest, you know, I don't even know how to describe it anymore. Biggest fair celebrating design. It's also a commercial space. And you see school kids, third graders, fourth graders, sixth graders coming around it, being exposed and talking about all the different things that are there. And I feel like that's so important and it's just something that we don't have at all.
00;10;28;10 - 00;10;43;10
Speaker 2
And it's you to your point, Amy, a lot of these things require kind of at least the acknowledgment and exposure to design in order to accept it as a means to both problem solving and embracing of products.
00;10;43;13 - 00;11;13;09
Speaker 1
But it it's so interesting to me because I, I actually wanted to ask about this because in one of my very early episodes with one of the partners at Pentagram, a graphic design firm, you know, Natasha, Jenn was on and I want to talk about the future of design with her. This is episode like six or something or overall, and I want to talk about the future of design education because she was like, We can't have a future of design without that investment in the future generations.
00;11;13;09 - 00;11;47;28
Speaker 1
And I think you raised a very good point. It's also a matter of critical thinking a little bit because design has of been taken to esthetics, right? Like the average American thinks of like wheel design, that's that pretty thing which somehow found your way. I mean, Amy, you are not only a podcast host and a teacher of furniture design, but you're a fabricator and a manufacturer for a decades now of amazing gallery inspired in museum collections, etc. I work mostly in furniture, but not exclusively.
00;11;48;01 - 00;12;07;21
Speaker 1
Josh and Evan, you guys curate the coolest stuff across different, you know, I'd say interdisciplinary design that exists in the world. I mean, what drew each of you to design in the first place? And given the state of design today, what are you most excited about as we look ahead?
00;12;07;23 - 00;12;32;24
Speaker 3
I'll start with you know, I think I didn't know design was a profession, but and I also didn't know I was creative or didn't know I didn't have an outlet to channel my creativity that was appropriate for me so that I didn't have, like, creative confidence, let's say. So it took me a while to really own that. And I came to it through a combination of right brain, left brain kind of thinking at the same time.
00;12;32;27 - 00;12;54;25
Speaker 3
Furniture design really appealed to me because it's both creative and has a utility baked into it. And so that sounded like, All right, if I can make something functional and artistic, then I'm really kind of it's a win win, right? So the thing that I didn't anticipate was learning how to design and build furniture is an incredibly rigorous field.
00;12;54;26 - 00;13;42;07
Speaker 3
That's fine. I really enjoyed that. But putting myself through the paces of that kind of rigor at the same time that I was expressing myself creatively, creatively, and learning about the physics of materials and the the properties and the structural things you need to consider about a live load and ergonomics and all of that. Not to mention working with my hands and using power tools and putting things together to a high degree of craft gave me a kind of material confidence, gave me a material intelligence, but an agency in the material world that translates out into everything I do, into a kind of confidence about, okay, I'm not helpless in the material world.
00;13;42;07 - 00;14;06;21
Speaker 3
I can figure out how to do stuff and I can go from zero idea into something real and tangible. And so I think just to bring this back to the education and piece of it, I think that's not a that doesn't require design education necessarily. That just it requires a celebration of creativity and making in at the elementary school level.
00;14;06;23 - 00;14;29;24
Speaker 3
And we need a little more cultural, you know, understanding of pointing out like that work didn't just get stamped out at a factory that was designed by somebody and there were choices made. And the things that are in your world, every single thing has been designed, your clothes, your everything you come in contact with that's not made by nature has been designed.
00;14;29;24 - 00;14;44;14
Speaker 3
So we need to be talking about this and pointing it out to our kids and reinforcing that in our schools. I don't know if I answered your question, but I. I went, that's where I'm going. And I didn't stop the train.
00;14;44;16 - 00;15;14;09
Speaker 2
I love that I am I so I've been a photographer since I was a kid and used to develop my own film and make my own prints. And then in college I discovered Photoshop and I was still studying photography, but I was also studying cognitive science because I was fascinated with how people perceive things. And I started questioning how Photoshop was supposed to be used.
00;15;14;12 - 00;15;28;03
Speaker 2
It's like, you're supposed to do this, and then this, and then it's like, That doesn't make sense to me. I think it should be like this, this and this. And you know, the name of things in the menus and the the the you know what, what, what a you know, an icon look like, all that kind of stuff.
00;15;28;06 - 00;15;59;14
Speaker 2
The various interaction models, all of it. I started to question. It didn't make sense to me. And that's when I started to realize that this kind of interest in cognitive science and tendency to be a creative came together as design, as questioning and looking at process and understanding how humans interact with things, whether they're digital or physical things.
00;15;59;17 - 00;16;31;22
Speaker 2
And that was really when I kind of and I think it was I think it was it still was a while into that before the word design ever entered the conversation. I think it was asking these questions and, and, and starting to pursue making interfaces before it was even considered a design discipline and fast forward to now and you know, thinking about how am I going fast forward to now.
00;16;31;22 - 00;16;52;03
Speaker 2
Yeah I'm going to have an answer actually, I don't know. I was one of those kids. I just I always had an opinion on how things should look, how I should look, how my space should look like. Yes, you do have an opinion. Don't you? I always have an opinion. Sometimes it's woke up, sometimes it's not. And one of my mom's best friends is an interior designer.
00;16;52;06 - 00;17;18;25
Speaker 2
Quite good. And early on I was a teenager. She asked if I would help her out. And so she was really my first exposure to this concept of, like, physical design, of creating a space, thinking about how things all these different shapes, colors, materials, furniture, art, all come together to express who that person or people are who are in that space.
00;17;18;27 - 00;17;36;13
Speaker 2
So for me, that was really, I think, my foundational exposure to design as a creative process, design as a beautification process, as a, you know, process of creating a space that creates a vibe.
00;17;36;16 - 00;18;05;27
Speaker 1
I guess it's it's it's fascinating to me because I think, Amy, you said something. It's about creativity, and the celebration of creativity is really what design. Maybe, maybe that's it as a practice, as an industry, as a as an outlet. It really it it elevates and celebrates that creativity. I knew this was going to be a big topic, and obviously we're were talking about I mean, furniture and cars and technology and photography and videography.
00;18;05;27 - 00;18;27;04
Speaker 1
We're here on podcast like all of that in its own way as design among everything that wasn't talked about, you know, but that's between those lines was the red thread like what makes it design? Like, is it is it branding? Is it storytelling? Is it the end user customer buyer, consumer that we talk about? Like what is it the creativity of the designer?
00;18;27;04 - 00;18;31;11
Speaker 1
Like what? What makes all of that design?
00;18;31;14 - 00;18;35;26
Speaker 3
You're talking about design as a process or design as it's understood in the market.
00;18;35;29 - 00;18;37;18
Speaker 1
You can answer it however you'd like.
00;18;37;19 - 00;19;00;18
Speaker 3
Amy Well, all of that's designed as a process because people had to make choices about how it's going to work, how it's going to look, what materials are going to be used, what makes it understood as design out in the market, I think is more of a question of our cultural understanding of what we think design is, which needs to be expanded honestly.
00;19;00;21 - 00;19;42;05
Speaker 3
It's also a matter of branding and storytelling, and it's a it's a matter of the systems that are currently in place that have, you know, sort of for generations decided that certain objects or certain things are designed. But if we if we're really talking about design as a process, then even services are designed, right? Experiences are designed and design is even very present, even in items that aren't for sale or aren't considered high design in terms of, you know, very just basic like chopsticks, you know.
00;19;42;08 - 00;19;54;20
Speaker 3
So that's a question that I actually kind of balk at because I don't know that I want people to reduce their understanding of design. I really want them to expand it.
00;19;54;22 - 00;20;18;22
Speaker 2
I think it's I, I think regardless of whether and I'm not sure if it's a question of of design of things or design of process. I think process is the red thread of design. Like, you know, you said, Amy, and in the very beginning of this conversation, I think that if you had to look at what is what is universal across every design discipline, it is process.
00;20;18;25 - 00;20;33;16
Speaker 2
And process is an exercise in in thoughtfulness, in consideration, in decision making and critical thinking. And I think that's that to me is is the most important part of design.
00;20;33;19 - 00;21;07;19
Speaker 3
The critical thinking in decision making. Yeah, I agree with you. And I think what I'm excited about is for for many years, the process of design has been a sort of solve a problem and then create something to solve that problem. And now it's kind of working in a non-linear backwards and forwards kind of decision making where you're also thinking about, okay, but if we use this materials, what is what kind of impacts does it have on the places where those materials are being harvested?
00;21;07;21 - 00;21;35;23
Speaker 3
And do we want that in our and design product, or is that going to is that going to create some unintended consequences? And then what we're trying to solve for is actually creating all these other problems. So I think there's it gets, you know, enormously complex and at the same time that critical thinking, that thoughtfulness that you're referring to just gets more and more important and more and more baked in to every phase of the process.
00;21;35;26 - 00;22;11;02
Speaker 1
You I mean, you've talked about it in different ways now, what I'll call sustainability writ large impact, right? Like that, every choice has a consequence, whether it's in the outcome of the design and or the impact on the materials manufacturers, raw materials sourcing, but also kind of life's lifespan. Right? There are a lot of terms. I think sustainability is a hype term right now, but there's not a better one that covers both social and environmental, all kind of factors, But there are generally a lot of hype.
00;22;11;02 - 00;22;38;18
Speaker 1
There's circular design, there's there are a lot of there's all sorts of things that are happening. But even beyond the sustainability topic, there's always in design something hyped, something I daresay is cool. I mean, design is a cool subject. I mean, I kind of feel like maybe. Josh Nevin, that's why you originally called, you know, what was a blog at the time before it became this, you know, multifaceted media platform, cool hunting.
00;22;38;20 - 00;22;53;16
Speaker 1
I mean, what do you all think is kind of hyped up cool right now? And what which aspects of it are worth worth our attention and what's the stuff that's actually really going to kind of drive us in the future, do you think?
00;22;53;19 - 00;23;25;07
Speaker 2
One of the things I'm really excited about is sound and sound design and sound is becoming more and more a part of everything that we're experiencing as humans and as consumers. And the way that sound design gets brought into various worlds. Thinking about electronics, technology, thinking about automobiles, it's enormous. I forget which designer it was, but one of the that car designers said, you know, sound is the new chrome, right?
00;23;25;08 - 00;23;49;24
Speaker 2
For decades, we relied on Chrome to define cars. And now sound and light are two new ways that we're doing that. We don't really think about Chrome anymore. When it comes to car design. So to me, that whole space is growing and embracing all of us and something we're all interacting with all the time. And I'm really excited about that.
00;23;49;27 - 00;24;24;03
Speaker 2
And I think, you know, certainly part of your question is what's what's hyped right now? Obviously, AI is still super hyped and it's and it's just going to keep going. I think that to me, the most important opportunity with AI in the design world and in the creative world is it goes back to this critical thinking part. You know, it's still it's how we it's how we prompt, it's how we it's how we use an AI as a tool in the creative process.
00;24;24;05 - 00;24;59;03
Speaker 2
And I think in nature of of things, being hyped is that they, you know, especially if it's category type like AI as a category, there's a lot out there that's getting a lot of attention that doesn't necessarily have the longevity to be useful, relevant or interesting in the future. And I think that there's you know, there's a lot of the stage that we're in right now with AI is still really early and it's still not it's it's it it's not yet part of the fabric of everything.
00;24;59;03 - 00;25;33;07
Speaker 2
It's still this or this this tool, this other thing that we go to use. And it's becoming embedded in the fabric of certain things, especially as, you know, again, the tax base evolves and starts looking at AI for very specific uses and not these big general like ask any question you want to ask it to make any picture you want kind of tools, but I think that it I think about it like when we were in school, calculators were verboten.
00;25;33;09 - 00;25;54;25
Speaker 2
You had to do math all by yourself and then eventually you got to a place where calculators were okay because knowing how to complete the formula or, you know, or solve the problem or complete the proof was more important than remembering your times tables. And using the calculator as a tool was became acceptable. And I think I was going to eventually get there.
00;25;54;25 - 00;25;59;29
Speaker 1
It's it was an advancement. It was then, yeah, right. You iterate on what you learned and what you know.
00;26;00;04 - 00;26;23;11
Speaker 2
Yeah. And I think that it's, you know, like for kids in school using A.I., it's, it's really important for them to learn how to use it, how to question it, how to scrutinize it. But there's a lot of AI that they don't know is happening. Even your elevator in your high rise is informed, right? It's calculating where the density is and how people are moving around and where the cars are resting.
00;26;23;13 - 00;26;34;17
Speaker 2
So there's a lot of AI that is just background and that has been happening for a really long time. But just isn't human forward or consumer forward in that way or obvious?
00;26;34;20 - 00;26;55;25
Speaker 1
I'm laughing a little bit because it's not really funny, but when Amy and I met originally, it was at an event that I have design hosted at Christie, and we actually had kind of across community from from all the different disciplines. And there was a lot of it was that one of the main subjects? It wasn't organized that way, but that's what came up.
00;26;55;25 - 00;27;27;00
Speaker 1
And I learned so much that evening. And one of the things that I learned in Amy, you'll probably be able to weigh in on this specifically regarding A.I. isn't only how we prompt, but also how are the designers behind or the engineers behind the AI programing it to learn what are the inputs like, what's the fitness training? That was the word that I learned that evening, that that is is driving the outcomes, which to your point even, you know Evan, very small but like in your elevator, in your building, like what?
00;27;27;00 - 00;27;34;05
Speaker 1
What's it learning how how is it learning, you know, and that's the programing rather than just the in, you know, the output.
00;27;34;07 - 00;27;44;13
Speaker 3
And and are those data sets equitable. Right. Which is a really, you know, key thing to think about in terms of the ethics of of AI.
00;27;44;16 - 00;28;07;27
Speaker 2
Just what is the what is the bias that is being programed into these models subconsciously, not necessarily intentionally not calling you know, not calling anyone out for doing anything wrong by, you know, with intent. However, the bias that a lot of the developers have is built into the code and is not necessarily inclusive.
00;28;07;29 - 00;28;32;28
Speaker 3
I think it's incumbent upon them, though, now that we understand unconscious bias and that it's something that we're all subject to. Nobody gets away from that. Anyone working in AI, any operation needs to interrogate its own biases in the generation of their data sets, and fitness training should be baked into the process.
00;28;32;28 - 00;28;37;20
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And decision making, right? I mean process.
00;28;37;23 - 00;28;40;29
Speaker 3
And in terms of I want to answer the hype question is.
00;28;40;29 - 00;28;41;12
Speaker 1
Sorry.
00;28;41;13 - 00;29;26;00
Speaker 3
Because it's totally hyped, but because I want to hype it and I want to call it out right now. I think there's a really exciting new field emerging called bio design, where it's it's basically it's the part that includes biomimicry and biology sizing of problems and looking to the strength, the strategies that nature is already solving and really thinking about how we can design in a way that's regenerative, not exploitative, extractive, that doesn't dominate nature, doesn't erase it, but actually, you know, heals as as it's as it lives out its life cycle.
00;29;26;02 - 00;29;54;13
Speaker 3
And I think there's a lot of really interesting work going on there. There are there are people who are working in the field of fashion who are working with bacteria to pigment, textiles, you know, designing living systems. And it's super exciting. I get goose bumps whenever I learn more about it. I'm not an expert by any means, but that's that's why I host a podcast so I can learn about this stuff and it just thrills me.
00;29;54;13 - 00;30;00;23
Speaker 3
And I want to pile more and more attention onto the whole field of bio design. I think it's really exciting.
00;30;00;25 - 00;30;22;17
Speaker 1
I love that and I actually had an episode of The Future of Biomimicry also quite early on. It's one of my favorite episodes ever, and not least of all because the guest was doing a full show, Intel, to illustrate all the different ways that, you know, we can we can design better for based on based on the blueprint nature has already given us.
00;30;22;17 - 00;30;23;24
Speaker 1
So thanks for calling that one out.
00;30;23;24 - 00;30;26;21
Speaker 2
Amy Yeah, very much so.
00;30;26;24 - 00;30;49;00
Speaker 1
We're we're coming on time here. I want to throw out the question that we always ask the future of X, Y, Z to each of you, which is like there's a lot of change afoot just generally in the world. Obviously between I mean, I won't even get into we all know this is a fact, right? And it just keeps kind of escalating perhaps in the migration that you're seeing and observing.
00;30;49;07 - 00;31;08;05
Speaker 1
There's that kind of the near in. And then there's like the like, you know, I don't even want to say moonshot, but like the father, I feel like we're in 2020 for like what's coming 25 years from now in 2050, like what are your guys like greatest hopes for the future of design.
00;31;08;08 - 00;31;42;02
Speaker 2
Of of START? I think that we certainly had an I are at a point where we're thinking about aging. We're dealing with we're dealing with, you know, are our parents aging and being late in their lives and I feel like there's always this conversation around how can we use design to make aging better? Right? And I think typically we have these conversations where I hear these conversations and then there isn't necessarily follow through.
00;31;42;02 - 00;32;10;25
Speaker 2
So my hope for 2050 is that our generation actually follows through on using design to make the experience of aging better, whether it's whether it's about space, whether it's about furniture, whether it's about assistive devices, whether it's about technology, all the different pieces of the things that we use in our daily lives that become harder to use or just different to use as we age.
00;32;10;25 - 00;32;40;21
Speaker 2
Yeah. And to me, there's three things. One is that another is thinking about the way that increasingly we're seeing design solutions for people with disabilities or other kinds of mobility issues. That's huge and super exciting to see that evolution. And the third to me is how we're thinking about living and traveling off the planet. And clearly that's going to be a huge thing over the next 25 years and how we living on the planet in 25 years.
00;32;40;21 - 00;33;10;04
Speaker 2
Some people, not all of us, but I think some people will be. And thinking about design historically in that space has been really just functional and like it has to work has to work really well, it has to save your life, whatever. But as we think about longer term experiences on a on a transportation device, habitation device, whether that is some kind of satellite or a base on a moon or a planet.
00;33;10;06 - 00;33;30;14
Speaker 2
Right. We're dealing with other kinds of longer term design, which can't only be functional, it also has to be hospitable and that people are living there or spending a lot of time there. Design is a huge component of all of that and in every aspect, right? Building it, transporting it, the systems, designing the systems to transport it, etc. all those things.
00;33;30;17 - 00;33;40;06
Speaker 2
So those are the three things that I love thinking about really, to me in the way in which I think about design in the future and its ability to solve all those different kinds of problems and opportunities.
00;33;40;08 - 00;33;41;13
Speaker 1
That.
00;33;41;16 - 00;33;53;24
Speaker 3
I love that you just said that I really have not spent a lot of time thinking about living extra planetary and yet, yes, it needs to be a vibe no matter where you go.
00;33;53;26 - 00;33;56;12
Speaker 2
Right? It totally does.
00;33;56;15 - 00;34;22;27
Speaker 3
I think my hope for the future, along the lines of this biodesign topic is is a concept of bio planning, but thinking about urban planning and development from a lens of how would nature do it and how can we do it in a way that's even more hospitable for the planet, for humans in it. And it involves really rethinking how our cities are built and the grid.
00;34;23;00 - 00;34;51;23
Speaker 3
But but even, you know, checking back into Evan's talk about sound design, I think even the acoustics of the built environment, like designing landscaping so that it absorbs certain sounds, cladding our buildings so that, you know, the anxiety caused by city noise is actually reduced because we've mitigated the the kind of, you know, reverberations that are causing a lot of like just mental noise.
00;34;51;25 - 00;35;29;19
Speaker 3
And I have to say I'm an educator and I deal with students at the college level. They give me so much hope every day, the way that they're so motivated and applying themselves with such love and dedication in ways that are different than, you know, me and my peer group did when we were in school, because society's evolving, but they operate with such a higher degree of mutual care, and that really gives me hope for maybe designing our built environments to enhance social practices.
00;35;29;19 - 00;35;46;16
Speaker 3
So as technology and the digital divide continues to be one, on one hand, you know, maybe our built environment can actually support and community on the other hand that that's what I get really excited about.
00;35;46;18 - 00;35;51;00
Speaker 2
That could be our next podcast. Amy Guest episode. Yeah.
00;35;51;02 - 00;36;06;08
Speaker 1
I love it. Well, all three of you, Amy Devers, Josh Ruben, Eva 19 Thank you, all of you, for joining me on this Season six Episode one Future of Design. It was a lovely conversation.
00;36;06;10 - 00;36;07;00
Speaker 3
Thanks for having us.
00;36;07;00 - 00;36;10;21
Speaker 2
Us. Thanks for having us. I feel like we need to talk more about it.
00;36;10;23 - 00;36;14;04
Speaker 1
I see a panel in our future.
00;36;14;06 - 00;36;16;20
Speaker 3
Yes, absolutely.
00;36;16;22 - 00;36;22;01
Speaker 1
Or maybe Amy wants to produce another winning TV show. Yeah.
00;36;22;03 - 00;36;25;01
Speaker 3
Okay.
00;36;25;04 - 00;36;48;02
Speaker 1
And for everyone watching you, you're going to be able to find us wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts, including Now Surround Podcast, Dot com. You can also watch on YouTube. You can visit I have designs at YouTube station and look for the X, Y or Z playlist or x, y, Z. Follow us on social media, especially Instagram and make sure you leave a five star review.
00;36;48;02 - 00;37;02;27
Speaker 1
Everyone here knows that's the way that others find us, so we will see you in two weeks time with another juicy future of X, y, z. In the meantime, have a great one and thank you guys all again. It was great.
00;37;03;00 - 00;37;06;08
Speaker 2
Thank you, sir.
00;37;06;08 - 00;37;24;16
Speaker 1
Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of Future of X, y, Z presented by I f Design. If you like what you heard, please leave us a five star rating and detailed review on your favorite podcast streaming platform. If you prefer to watch each episode you can subscribe to, I have designs YouTube channel for the latest playlists.
00;37;24;22 - 00;37;40;06
Speaker 1
You can follow us on Instagram at Future X, Y, Z, and if desired, check out surround podcast dot com and visit. I have designed dot com forward slash x, y, z. For all the latest and greatest related to future of x, y, Z.