It’s Time to Get Enchanted with Smart Product Design

David Rose, visiting scientist at MIT Media Lab, argued recently at Dassault Systemes’ 3DExperience Forum in Boston that the cell phone has inspired devices that are useful but cold and impersonal. Giving them the term “black glass slabs,” he said they don’t make emotional connections with users.

Another example is Google Glass. Rose said the head-mounted display estranged wearers from their surroundings. Disdain for wearers who walked around vocalizing data commands, in fact, led to them being called a colorful portmanteau that rhymes with a certain derogatory term.

Rose said devices that connect with users and improve their quality of life, however, are “enchanted objects” (which is also the title of a book he wrote). He cited, as an example, an umbrella by Ambient Products that has a radio receiver and a handle display that lights up when rain or snow is predicted to alert the user. He also called out a Skype-like system that is tastefully tucked away in a cabinet but visually connects people (e.g., children with their grandparents) and alerts users to incoming calls by flashing a discrete light.

The handle of this smart umbrella from Ambient Products lights up when rain or snow is predicted. It is an example of an “enchanted object” that connects with its users and improves their quality of life.
(Source: Ambient Products)

Enchanted objects use sensors and the IoT “to make interfaces haptic, tangible, and more humanistic,” Rose explained. They will “change how we relate to others, live, work, and play.”

One growing application is smart medical packaging. Rose cited Glow Cap, a smart closure for prescription medicine containers that alerts users and others by telephone when a scheduled dosage has been missed. Rose said tests demonstrated the packaging’s effectiveness in keeping people on schedule with their medications. Individuals who used conventional containers met their required dosages 71% of the time, while those who used Glow Cap had an on-schedule rate of 98%, he cited from a study.

“Pervasive is persuasive,” Rose said.

An emerging “pervasive technology” is wearable “life-logging cameras” that document everything users do, from where they go to their interactions with others.

While that has potential life-quality benefits, on the other side of smart and connected products is the marketers who want the data that is generated, Rose said. Almost every connected activity today generates data that can be used to identify and enhance the user experience –- or sell more products.

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With 1.8 billion photos being shared every day on social media, companies see a goldmine of product leads that can be tailored to individuals, as well as data about how target audiences interact with brands.

“Marketers want these photos,” Rose said, and work is underway (including efforts by him) to develop software that targets and interprets photo sharing.

In an interview with the media after his presentation at 3DExperience, Rose said he believes that as big data and the IoT evolve, enchanted objects will become mainstream devices.

So it is critical that designers and engineers adapt to how big data and the Internet of Things influence product development and apply insights into the design and development process.

“Any company not prototyping enchanted versions of what they do is making a mistake,” Rose concluded.

Pat Toensmeier has more than 30 years of experience writing for business-to-business publications. His main areas of coverage have been defense, design, manufacturing, technology and chemicals, especially plastics and composites. He has reported extensively on developments in these areas from the U.S. and Europe, and covered industry events as well in Brazil and Asia. Toensmeier has held various positions at major publishers such as the McGraw-Hill Companies and Hearst Corporation. A graduate of the University of Missouri, he is a contributing editor for several print and online publications. Toensmeier is based in suburban New Haven, Conn.

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