URBAN INFORMATION DESIGN

AND THE NEW MATERIALS OF INTERACTION

Sami Niemelä
Creative Director, Nordkapp
@samin

— www.nordkapp.fi
— @Nordkapp

Thank you, Adam, Juha for the talks and thanks for the Cognitive Cities guys for having me.

My name is Sami, and I work for a design consultancy called Nordkapp in Helsinki, Finland.

this talk is about connecting the dots in the fuzzy beginning, and making them into something more tangible. Partially this is thinking out loud on, and partially reflecting the work we’ve done on
urban informatics and screens.
This is what our work looks like. We work in sensemaking and strategic design, concept design and interfaces.
The latter part includes products, services, sometimes crossing with physical objects and environments.

We've worked on urban informatics and especially urban screens for a while now, with mr Greenfield as our advisor.
A major part of my time is spent on the fuzzy part of design: navigating the wicked design problems into systems, platforms, products and services.
 The
Right
Now
In a same way,I’ve divided the talk into three parts: now, near future and the future. So, let’s first focus on the situation at hand. Urban informatics and screens in particular are taking their baby
steps towards an established system.
 Title Text

observations Kate Whelan & Tia Sistonen / Noedkapp

Interactive Urban Screens are in their infancy. As the screens were and are treated as static display objects along streams of people, there are some details that were left unnoticed. As the
design of the object themselves is far from optimized, they tend to blend in to their environment - almost too well even for the commercial content to work well.
 observations Kate Whelan & Tia Sistonen / Noedkapp

These are the screens in Helsinki, installed by ad vendor Clear Channel and the city two years ago. The one side of the screen is a commercial space, an ordinary lcd rotating the advertisements. The
other side is a touch screen, currently running a static map.

The planning was mostly driven by advertisement money, and whole system built on top on CC's platform. Good for them, but not that good for the budding ecosystem.
 Title Text

observations Kate Whelan & Tia Sistonen / Noedkapp

This is a sight more and more common in cities and airports everywhere.

And of course, despite being fabulously built to stand the elements, they run Windows.
 Why is
this like
it is?
So, what’s going on here? Why is it like this?
 “Always design a
thing by considering
its next largest
context” —EERO SAARINEN

The architect Eero Saarinen talked about the importance of always designing to next larger context. That's more true than ever today,

Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context - a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan.
 “Design for the
smaller context, too”
—ME

and I'd add we have to keep our minds open to both directions— one context up, and down as well. I'll get back to this in a second.
 Wicked
Problems
Regarding designing urban informatics, it’s important to realize we’re dealing with a fairly complex system here. True wicked problems—something that are complicated to solve, in more ways
than just one.
 Paths&
Edges&
Districts&
Nodes&
Landmarks
To undestand this, a bit of historical context: in his book “The image of the city” (1960) Kevin Lynch coined the concept of place legibility, which is essentially the ease with how individuals
perceive and navigate the urban landscape

paths, the streets, sidewalks, trails, and other channels in which people travel;
edges, perceived boundaries such as walls, buildings, and shorelines;
districts, relatively large sections of the city distinguished by some identity or character;
nodes, focal points, intersections or loci;
landmarks, readily identifiable objects which serve as external reference points.
 Interfaces&
Services&
Data Platforms&
Connected Objects&
Infrastructure.

On top of this, what makes the complexity of an interactive urban system, consisting on anything from personal devices to interfaces to infrastructure within the urban fabric.

To make make this even more interesting is that we have to add time to the equation as well
 Interfaces&
Services&
Time Data Platforms&
+ Connected Objects&
Infrastructure.

On top of this, what makes the complexity of an interactive urban system, consisting on anything from personal devices to interfaces to infrastructure within the urban fabric.

To make make this even more interesting is that we have to add time to the equation as well
NOW DAILY NEVER
For example, the screens will be used in various ways for various services: Wayfinding is an obvious example, too. The idea that maps tell me where I am is fairly new, too. So is the question
“How long it does take me to get to X”?
 v
5 10 15
MIN MIN MIN

For example, the screens will be used in various ways for various services: Wayfinding is an obvious example, too. The idea that maps tell me where I am is fairly new, too. So is the question
“How long it does take me to get to X”?
…and how often are you going to be there? This is interesting as local residents usually don’t feel they need any help, until they are given an opportunity to find and learn. And maybe play.
 DAILY
WEEKLY

NEVER

…and how often are you going to be there? This is interesting as local residents usually don’t feel they need any help, until they are given an opportunity to find and learn. And maybe play.
We can jump to more ambivalent and abstract things like psychogeoraphy: It is hugely important to urban experience as well.

How does the city feel to you where you are?

 ENJOY
LOVE

FEAR

We can jump to more ambivalent and abstract things like psychogeoraphy: It is hugely important to urban experience as well.

How does the city feel to you where you are?

And perhaps the most relevant approach here is the lens of designing services: How do the services connect and identity to the urban fabric? What are the touchpoints.... the hows and whens?
 First Use

Use
Configure

Re-Focus

Renewal

And perhaps the most relevant approach here is the lens of designing services: How do the services connect and identity to the urban fabric? What are the touchpoints.... the hows and whens?
 The
Near
Future
The screens and screen-like objects are coming. They’re almost here. Here’s a few things to consider for the immediate future.
 original illustration Kate Whelan / Nordkapp

Design happens through a set of limitations. One way to look at this is to look at the screens themselves and a few properties they manifest.

Obviously, this is a simplification based on what we have now: Sensors, mobile phones, pads, computers and urban screens.
 Input

- + + + -
- - original illustration Kate Whelan / Nordkapp

Perhaps the most important quality is the context of input:. Output - more variable, depending on the services. Sensors are obvious, streams of data. Mobile phones are very personal, and
hence surprisingly powerful.

Tablets are ok, but very dependable on where and how are they used. Obviously the computer is still where most of input work is done. Urban screens, not so.
 Time

original illustration Kate Whelan / Nordkapp

So based on this, we can make rough guesses to give some direction to design for. Again, so far the best guess for administration will be your computer, with tablet and mobile growing behind with
the device capabilities. urban screens reside in a context which usually makes them fairly uninviting for longer use at a time.
 Personal
space
wikipedia personal proximity zones

This leads to interesting questions about proxemics and the perceived personal space. How much space does a screen need to be used?
 Multiuser
Proxemics
This is especially relevant for large, multiuser screens. They have to be designed for having many personal spaces at once.
 photo credit http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnmueller/454262550

The physical space can create and amplify the context, too. Where does the commercial information go to? is it allowed everywhere, or is it separated from wayfinding completely?
 The Data
points us
where
cellphone coverage project Sha Hwang @ Stamen

One thing’s sure—the least we have to worry about is “where”. In an urban environment public data can point us to places which meet our criteria for the screens, and also where not to have
them.
 Please
(image)
Consider
Our
Environment photo credit Teppo Kotirinta / Nordkapp

This is not to downplay the human side of things. In near future, the placement of screens alone will be a huge challenge.

Apart from being of a fairly complex system of platforms, services, context and also physical hardware. A true design challenge we faced recently—how to design urban informatics in reverse
context, a completely non-urban environment?
 Polite
and
Curious
media surfaces:incidental media by BERG London

One of the obvious directions is to design things that are polite in apprearance and behaviour. Polite can be very powerful. I love this example by BERG London and Dentsu—the sheer silent
playfulness of it is just wonderful.

My friend Ben wrote about the concept of Emoticomp which I think is interesting here, too. Design systems with personality and tone of voice.
 “Just Enough
is More” —MILTON GLASER

Also, a good consideration is Milton Glaser’s conclusion in his AIGA speech from 2001. After 30 years in business, he understood less is not really more. Instead, just enough is more.
 The
Future
_________
so, the future. Bright, big scary thing. Here sooner than you’d think
 Title Text

IBM's supercomputer WATSON is a shape of things to come. But the service avatar here is awful—still just a screen. It looks like a bloody computer.
When we design and build things that interact with us, we start empathizing with them as well. Human mind is tuned to see faces everywhere, by default. Why not take an advantage of this?
 The Service
Avatars live in
the next smaller
context
in Smart Things, Mike Kuniavsky calls connected objects the service avatars. I think these avatars actually make the smaller context to be considered here.

We cannot design a modern, truly connected service without considering both the context it will be interacted in, but also by which touchpoints by with it is being accessed and operated.
 BASAAP

Somewhere in a conversation between Charlie Schick and Matt Jones the term BASAAP surfaced. An acronym for be as smart as a puppy.

This behavioural trait of being just as intelligent enough is very relevant in the context of urban information and interaction.
 paro http://www.parorobots.com/

As a proof— on- or off screen, the future might be soft and fluffy after all. The more specific the purpose, more of “weird”
(instead of wow) we can add.

PARO a japanese therapeutic robot is a prime example of BASAAP in action. These are low fidelity service avatars that are human enough, but still stay out of the uncanny valley of creepiness. The
more specific the purpose, more of “weird” (instead of wow) we can add.
 Title Text

spotify radio Jordi Parra, http://zenona.com/

However, everything doesn’t have to be a glowing rectangle. Screen-like objects can manifest themselves in fairly low fidelity.
 mutewatch http://mutewatch.com

They will be wearable, they will be built in an evironment—anything from small to extra large.
 party in their mouth by Daito Manabe, daito.ws

Eventually, they will be a fashion accessory. This is a wonderful project by Daito Manabe called “Party in your mouth”, consisting of remote controlled and synced leds and japanese models.
 leonardo MIT Personal Robotics Group

The personal robotics group at MIT have developed a weird puppy called Leonardo, “the Stradivarius of expressive robots.” A something completely different.

So that led me thinking, could we make the urban screens feel more "in place" in neighbourhood if we’d actually have them names and behaviour? A screen in Mitte called Hans?
 The
Future
is here
I want to use the remaining few slides to celebrate the opportunity we have here. The future is already here, and somewhat evently distributed in this room at least.

Given that everything else goes well, Nanotechnology is going to be a great enabler. Sooner or later, everything will have the potential to be a display surface.
 Self Cleaning &
Photovoltaic &
Near-invisible &
Carbon Nano Tube
Carbon nanotubes are bit like the super material of near future, with all kinds of optic, kinetic, thermal qualities and so forth.

Such as paper batteries.

In a few years we will see transparent, nano-thin surfaces that act as touch screen while being virtually invisible when not in use. Screens, will be everywhere.
For a designer, this is both exciting and important time to be in.

In vein of Finnish design heritage, what if we just gave away the idea of glowing rectangle? When everything else is connected, it might make sense to not do so. Make it so, that the information is
everywhere when needed, but still polite and discreet. The information will be there for us when we need, how we need but even more so, it won’t be there without a cause.

Just enough is more.

For a designer, this is both exciting and important time to be in.

In vein of Finnish design heritage, what if we just gave away the idea of glowing rectangle? When everything else is connected, it might make sense to not do so. Make it so, that the information is
everywhere when needed, but still polite and discreet. The information will be there for us when we need, how we need but even more so, it won’t be there without a cause.

Just enough is more.

 Thank you.

@samin | sami@nordkapp.fi | nordkapp.fi/blog

- Please comment, argue, talk to me publicly via Twitter, or in more private via email.
- Or grab my hand later on today.

This is a start of something, so any thoughts are appreciated. Thank you for listening, cheers!