Are we designing humans out of decision-making?

A colleague once told me that the psychology of progression can be understood as leaving the comfort zone and plunging into the depths of the development zone. Here everything is open for discussion, in flux, in a space of possibility. Exploration in this environment is where innovation is found.

Literature has the power to do what we see as our vision at IIAB: It can change conversations.

In the past two years, the COVID pandemic has caused a shift in the distribution between in-person research and digital, remote research. Mobile ethnography, which has been part of our toolkit for a decade, has become the primary tool for engaging with humans in a time of social distance. This increased use during the pandemic has led to new learnings which counter the assumption that data acquired digitally is distorted due to peoples’ tendency to artificially stage themselves on digital platforms, like Instagram or Facebook.

A positive corona-test isolated me and my family during the Christmas break. The digital company of Paul, John, George and Ringo got us through it, and while watching 9 hours of “The Fab Four” at work, I reflected upon the nature of creative work processes. I might be the very last person to understand the genius work of The Beatles. Admitted! But when I look into the new year ahead of me, full of exciting professional collaborations, within and beyond the much talented IS IT A BIRD-team, a source of inspiration will be The Beatles. Here’s why:

For well over 1.5 years we have lived in a low-touch economy. This global deprivation of opportunities for intimacy might just trigger a new kind of luxury: human bonding. Companies that master how to design for intimate customer experiences are likely winners of tomorrow. We offer four principles.

Youth is wasted on the young. While many of us can appreciate the sentiment behind this adage, the irony nonetheless paints aging as an inferior and undesirable alternative. These kinds of ageist ideologies have been circulating for a long time, but aging is not the disappointing fate it was once considered to be.

Just 500 years ago, we humans believed that Earth was at the centre of the universe. Before the dawn of modern astrology, the common belief was that our planet was stable and fixed in position as astrologers observed that the Sun and moon appeared to revolve around them once a day. But in 1543, Polish astrologer Copernicus showed that this wasn’t the case. As it turned out, humans were not the centre of the universe – the sun was.

Whilst technology has expanded our lives in so many ways, most of us today share a collective addiction to our devices. In spite of our best efforts to reduce our dependency by deleting apps and putting our phones on 'do not disturb' mode, all too often we find ourselves back on our newsfeeds mindlessly refreshing to see what we missed.

Conflicting demands and tensions are the norm in our home and work lives. As students, the more we learn, the less we realise we know. In business, we spend money to make money. And in our personal relationships, sometimes we have to be cruel to be kind.

Ten Meter Tower - a short film from Swedish artists Maximilien van Aertryck and Axel Danielson captures a series of people facing difficult decision of jumping off a ten-meter swimming board into a pool. As the people face the high dive and decide whether to take the leap of faith – or not – a portrait of human doubt emerges.

Climate change is the defining crisis of our time, with the changes happening labelled both as an ecological catastrophe and international crisis. In the past few years, we’ve seen mounting awareness for the severity of the crisis from policy makers, media outlets and corporations across the globe. In 2018, Greta Thunberg’s #FridaysForFutures initiative inspired an international movement resulting in global strike which gathered more than one million strikers protesting in 125 countries. And in 2020, David Attenborough’s documentary film, 'A Life on Our Planet’ served as a ‘witness statement’ through which he shared his explicit concern for the changes afoot – as well as hopes for the future.

With little to look forward to, fewer social interactions and no travel plans in the new future, you easily get stuck in the rut. We feel with all of you – but there are ways to ease the feeling of isolation! 4 birds to share their tips and tactics to get a new perspective during lockdown – whether you are looking for fiction or facts, outlook or escapes.