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The Future of Design
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The Future of Design

World.Minds, 2016

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Eye Opening

Recommendation

According to designer Tom Wujec, the fourth industrial revolution will radically transform the nature of design. In the years to come, expect humans’ role in design to diminish as technology and machine-learning algorithms assume the bulk of the work. This evolution may sound discomfiting, as society tends to regard design and creativity as uniquely human faculties. Yet Wujec reassures that the evolution of design will benefit those who can leverage it. getAbstract recommends his startling report to creatives and designers who must prepare for the upheaval underway.

Summary

Humans are a “species of toolmakers.” The earliest hand-built tools served to enhance human agility. Modern tools have surpassed their makers in terms of intelligence. As a result, four principles are shifting the nature of design:

  1. “Digital tools are growing exponentially” – Humans produce more transistors than grains of rice per year at a lower cost. Each subsequent generation of transistor doubles the performance of the previous generation, resulting in the “exponential growth of technologies,” whereby advances occur “slowly, then suddenly, then universally.”

About the Speaker

Tom Wujec is a fellow at Autodesk, a firm that builds specialist software for professional industries.


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