This week’s topic is focusing on how disruptive practice and emerging technology can drive app development in creative ways. Disruptive practice looks to break new ground and diverge away from norms in the industry. Emerging technology can be a key facilitator to differentiating your product. Currently technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality and wearable s are pushing the boundaries of app development by merging digital and physical world together. Big data, Blockchain and artificial intelligence are also driving services and may soon become common place among the apps we use.
These technologies can also be used to empower creativity, create new innovative apps, help them stand apart and help you explore new markets. The key here is understanding what technology to use and how best to use it. Strong integration is needed in order to create an app that is popular and works well. Identifying what technology to use and when is key.
Computational creativity:
Computational creativity is the combination of art, science and technology in order to push the creative limits of by taking on the responsibility as the content creator. Using artificial intelligence to help people be more creative and drive technology further towards what may be the future. Machine learning is at the heart of computational creativity and the software can process heavy user data or create a better algorithm, for a specific task, then you could.
Throughout my current internship with UNStudio I have explored computation through the CAD program grasshopper. As a company that prides itself on using computation and technology to improve is products and architecture this has pushed me to explore computation in the projects I have been involved with. Grasshopper is a powerful algorithmic modelling program that allows designers to explore concepts that are much more challenging and ambitious. This enhances creativity and allows the projects to develop complexity in a natural manner. Employing computational creativity in this manner into app design is a fascinating way to make this software more accessible and could push the limits of what you can create from devices.
AI: Automated video game design and procedural content generation
Automated video game design is the intertwining of AI and design in order to generate content in a procedural manner. Using algorithms to generate content has its benefits such as smaller file sizes, random or unscripted content/ gameplay and greater amount of content. Whilst this is very popular in video games, combing AI with procedural generation can be used in other areas of app development.
One area that I am interested from, due to my background in product design, is generative design. Utilising data and algorithms to mimic natures evolutionary process by testing hundreds or thousands of iterations of a design in order to work out which one best suits the purpose, is driving the design of products and engineered components. One example of this is the BMC Teammachine road bike which used generative design to save weight, enhance stiffness and improve aerodynamics. This area of design may come to mobile applications very soon due to the movement of creative expression and CAD from workstations to laptops and now to tablets and mobile devices. This may open up a wider audience to CAD software and the possibilities that these hold. This is an area that I am very interested in exploring as the thought of the democratization of software and design, paired with the rise of 3D printing and rapid prototyping, is an exciting prospect.
Wearable technology
Wearable technology blurs the boundary between physical and digital products. This creates new forms of interaction and new experiences for users. The synthesis between digital and physical is an interesting space to explore as the experience of the state changes is key to the user’s emotions and their overall satisfaction. For me this is an area that I really want to explore further and push myself to try new areas of app development past the standard mobile application. So far through the semester I have only really focused on mobile applications as I have been finding my feet, but next semester I want to really push myself to explore new areas and platforms.
One company that is pushing the wearable tech industry is Google. They have many projects running exploring the interaction between physical and digital products including their collaboration with Levi’s on the Project Jacquard commuter jacket. This project is a great example of physical and digital working together in harmony. I will use this project, and other similar work as inspiration, but also as means to evaluate my projects and progress.
I have explored wearable technologies in the past during a university project designing safety equipment for the RNLI. I will be looking to use some knowledge and resources from this project to form a basis for exploration next semester and beyond. The Arduino platform is one that I have worked with before and one that I feel will allow me to work on the projects that I am interested in. However, in order to explore wearable technology, I will need to put some time aside to upskilling in Arduino if a project in this area arises.
Conclusion
To conclude this research into disruptive practice and technologies this is an area of app development that I feel will play an important role in the future and our everyday lives. From clothing that monitors your health, to the democratization of apps that promote create expression these will play a more important role each year. Whilst I do not currently have the skills to undertake these projects with any great confidence, they are areas that I wish to explore and test myself in. Over the next few modules I wish to start pushing myself further and further to create more concepts for a wider variety of platforms, using more disruptive technologies and across a wider gamut of genres.
Nathaniel's Creative App Journal 