Designing for the Internet of Things

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In this example there are many types of design at work—industrial
design for the skis and the electronics box; graphic design for the labels,
ski graphics, packaging, and mobile app interface; interaction design
for the mobile app; system integration; and coordinated communica-
tion between the app and the box. This is in addition to all the engi-
neering involved in the hardware and software to make this all work.
What we witness in projects such as this one is a shift in the way
we’re working from the industrial model of design → build → sell to a
post-industrial model wherein all those things happen simultaneously
in an integrated and iterative way within a small team. The initial pro-
totype of the circuit was created by an interaction designer using an
Arduino, and then an engineer and the designer worked together to
refine the circuit through iteration. An integrated team of designers
from different practices, creative technologists, engineers, and fabrica-
tors is required to design, build, and iterate on a system this complex.
At the heart of this team is a design practice that coordinates all the
moving pieces, keeps the overall system in mind, and is the arbiter of
the aesthetic and functional coherence of the final product. The lead
designer needs to have a refined sense of aesthetics as it relates to the
appearance of the physical product, the software, and the system that
makes them work together. Figure 14 - 2 demonstrates this team effort
at work as the prototype begins to transition toward a more polished
product.
The overall aesthetics and quality of the interactive system, product,
and associated software is the purview of this new breed of designer,
including the impact and implications of the product. The modern
designer needs to have a foundation in traditional design disciplines
and interaction foundations, which acts as a framework for thinking
about the form of objects and interfaces, as well as good understand-
ing of systems theory, cybernetics (the study of feedback, relationships,
and communication within a system), and culture, including a basic
grasp of ethnography and anthropology in order to understand differ-
ent contexts and cultures.