are commonly replaced with apps include the calculator, alarm
clock, audio recorder, and camera. Products that traditionally
relied on Industrial Designers to provide a unique physical form
were being dematerialized, a phenomena that investor Marc
Andreessen refers to as “software eating the world.”^20
At the same time, the physical form of the smartphone was very
neutral, designed to disappear as much as possible, with a
fullscreen app providing the device’s momentary purpose and
identity. This was a shift from the earlier mobile phones, where
the carriers differentiated their models primarily through physical
innovation such as the way a phone flipped open or slid out to
reveal the keypad.
Even as Interaction Designers introduced physical constraints
and metaphors into their work, Industrial Designers saw their
expertise underutilized. The rise of the smartphone made
inventor and entrepreneur Benny Landa’s prediction that
“everything that can become digital, will become digital” seem
truer than ever. For Industrial Design, which throughout the 20th
century had always defined the latest product innovations, this
was a moment of potential identity crisis.
Smart Everything
The general purpose smartphone continues to thrive, but today
these convergence devices are being complemented by an array
of single-use “smart” devices. Sometimes referred to as the
Internet of Things, these devices use embedded sensors and
network connectivity to enhance and profoundly change our
interactions with the physical world.
This introduces design challenges and possibilities well beyond a
new screen size. Smart devices can augment our natural
(^20) "The Man Who Makes the Future: Wired Icon Marc Andreessen | WIRED." Wired.com.
Accessed December 17, 2014. http://www.wired.com/2012/04/ff_andreessen/5/.