#59 New Internet: 5 Tips Tow to Prepare as a Designer
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Hello friends and welcome back to the Future of UX podcast where we dive into new technologies and the future of design. My name is Patricia Reines, I'm your host for this podcast and I'm an innovation and UX designer and consultant from Zurich, Switzerland.

Switzerland. I need to get used to saying Zurich because I recently or until recently I yeah I used to live in Berlin and now I moved to Switzerland so I need to get used to that. But in this episode we will have a look into the glass bulb again and focus on the future. To be precise we will have a look at five things that I would do to prepare for the future.

The last year and also 2024 will be quite transformational years. We went through a lot of interesting changes, especially driven by AI, by generative AI. So I want to share five recommendations, five tips from my perspective that I think will be very helpful when it comes to preparing yourself for the future of really being ready for all the technological changes that are happening currently.

I would say at the moment we are definitely in the middle of a huge tech shift. The kind we haven't seen in a very long time. I would describe it very similarly to the release of the iPhone in 2007.

Because it's also really changed and transformed the way how we act with technology, how we design for technology, right? Like with the iPhone, with the apps, there have been so much changes. And this is what we are currently seeing.

At the moment, I would say it's common to think that tech moves as a steady pace, right? Like as a linear line. But in reality, it really jumps forward in big leaps. It grows exponentially because of the Morris law. I'm going to link it in the show notes in case you want to learn more about it.

especially now with AI. And this jump is powered by massive amounts of data. And on top of that, we're getting new gadgets like wearable and small computers that make computing easier when we need to stay alert and also focused. For example, at work, right? Like when we need to go into a meeting or a workshop where we really need to be focused and don't get distracted.

AR or mixed reality glasses like the Apple Vision Pro are perfect for those scenarios. So generally, generative AI is some kind of a game changer in computing, robotics, and how we interact with tech. It's changing the game, making our tech experience

revolve around us, around the user, instead of just, you know, having apps or having websites. And this new approach is often called real-time interaction and it sets to shake things up big time. There is a term called the real-time internet and I want to talk a little bit about what it is before I am sharing these five recommendations with you.

So generative AI is already doing some pretty cool stuff like writing recipes or poetry or even creating images and software instantly based on what we ask for based on a single prompt.

And we are heading towards a future where software can be super personalized based on our commands. So the evolution of generative AI from creating odd images with crappy fingers and crappy teeth to making fully working software is impressive and I think really fascinating for me. And soon we won't need someone else to develop apps for us.

We will just tell our devices what we need and they will do that for us. So imagine asking for a monthly cooking plan, right? At the moment, what would you do? You would maybe ask ChatGPT to come up with a recipe list and create the recipe plan for you. And then you would maybe print it, put it on your fridge, and then they cook the certain ingredients or certain recipes.

But in the future, it will look a little bit different. And we don't need apps for that. And I think this is super interesting. So imagine in the future, you ask AI to create a monthly cooking plan. And AI puts together an app.

that not only gives you recipes, but also figure out what ingredients you have in the fridge and even their nutritional info and pair this with millions of apps out there. And you've got a personal assistant that knows exactly what you like. And the best part is that you can use these insights from the app that just has been created

on the go basically because you're wearing XR glasses, mixed reality glasses. So you have your hands free for cooking. And once you've cooked all the recipes, the month is over, the app disappears again, really saving space and keeping your data ready for next time. So the data will be stored, the app can remove. And later you could ask for maybe like a family meal plan. So a meal plan, not just for yourself or a cooking plan, but for your whole family, for your kids, for your partner.

And then it would update itself using your previous data that has been stored and some of the recipes you liked and disliked and use this information to create a new plan, creating a new app with this information. A new app that can also be shared with your partner on a contemporary app that they can use so they can also cook and prepare some of the meals for you and for your family.

So what I want to say with this little story is, is there is a lot going to happen in the next years. And some of the things sound very far away or very futuristic or very sci-fi even. When you think about the future where are no apps, but this is probably the future. And I feel...

We're going already to a lot of change, so it's important to understand what is ahead of us and how do we prepare. This is the reason why I want to share five personal tips that I think are super important for the next decade. And the first tip is not so surprising. It's, of course, AI. And how do you get better into AI than using it?

And my number one tip when it comes to AI is use it as often as you can. Make a habit out of it. Make it a habit to perform activities with AI assistance to really learn. Learn how to craft prompts, how to use it and integrate it. That could be

Give yourself a little challenge, like create recipes with ChatGPT, for example, or create a song using different AI tools, like creating a different workflow, going through the different steps and then using it. The goal of that is that you really push yourself to extend your repertoire of AI use cases.

Because I know that poor work, it sometimes can be a little bit challenging, especially if your employer doesn't really want you to use certain apps or certain tools, which is fine. But you shouldn't really miss the wave by not using AI. Use it for your personal life. Try to create recipes with it. Look up a movie. Create summaries. Write articles. Really use it.

The more you use it, the better you will also understand what it's capable of. And you will see some blockers, some boundaries, some limitations, which is normal, but also a lot of potential. And this is super important. So my first tip is act and do and try things out. So use AI. My number two tip is work on communication and people soft skills.

The reason for that is very simple. We will see a lot of the work, a lot of the tasks that we are currently doing being automated. Some things won't be automated and those are the things that require empathy and communication skills. Although ChildGPT or also other AI tools can learn empathy, how you would call it, but for certain situations, it's, let's say, like a human desire to talk with a human, right?

Maybe you know this when you call a call center, right? Or if you have a chatbot and you text with them, you explain what you want. But it's a very different feeling talking to a real human, right? Like who can tell you, oh, I totally understand why you're so angry or so annoyed. I get it. You know, we will figure it out together. It is very different than talking to a computer or talking to a voice assistant who is just not a real human.

So there will always be the task where humans are required. Thinking about user research, qualitative interviews, for example. Imagine a user going through the process with a robot or with an AI assistant. That would be very different, right? Because even getting those nuances and talking to a human, I think, is super important also for the people who are interviewed.

So work on your presentation and communication skills. And I can talk a little bit about my own journey or what I did, I think like five years ago where I thought, okay, I really need to improve my communication skills.

I wasn't really sure how I should do it, but I read the book from Cale Carnegie about how to talk or how to better talk or something like that. I will link it in the show notes. It's a really amazing book. Cale Carnegie is an amazing author. All his books are great and I can highly recommend them. But in this book, he shared some practical tips on how to get better at presenting, how to get better at talking, especially if you don't have a script that you read out.

but being more spontaneous and being able to improvise. So anyway, he shared a tip and said, you need to come up with topics, write them on a piece of paper, put them in a board or in a little box, pick one, and then do a two-minute, five-minute presentation out of this topic and maybe practice that with your wife or with your partner or with your friends to get into this

mindset of presenting and learning how to present and also removing all the M's and R's and really becoming confident. So for me, I felt this is probably not realistic that my partner is going to go with me through this process. So I thought I will do it a little bit differently. And I started the UX Afterwork Drinks and maybe some of you know this format. When I started with Instagram like four years ago or something like that, I had a format called UX Afterwork Drinks.

It was a live stream each Thursday where I came up with a topic, like a future-related topic about freelancing, about UX design. I always prepared a little presentation about something and then I went live. It was always with a drink. It could also be a tea or a coffee, so it wasn't about having a cocktail or something like that. So it was about a drink.

and then talking about that topic. And a lot of people joined from the community. I got so much great feedback out of it because it really brought people together. We could talk about these topics, discuss in the chat, and I just shared knowledge for free.

But on the other hand, I practiced my own presentation skills because as you can imagine, it's not that easy going live on a social media page and just talking about a topic. Although I did practice by preparing the slides, still I wasn't reading them out, right? It was basically like a guideline more or less. And then I talked very freely about these topics.

So in your work, if there is a possibility to present something, do it. If there is an option to present the design guidelines to your stakeholders in a meeting, any possibility where you can speak up, learn about communication, do it. You will thank yourself later. Okay, so number three is connecting and networking. And I think...

I mean, I always say that networking is super important and I think everyone says that this is not something new. But I feel one thing that's very, very important are those inspiring conversations that we should have on a daily base, basically, right? And maybe you have an amazing manager, you have amazing colleagues where you really inspire each other, where you have amazing discussions during lunch, where you go over projects together, where you inspire each other.

But unfortunately, it's not always the case of maybe you're looking for a new job. You don't have colleagues. You are a freelancer or you're just not so happy with your colleagues or where you're currently working. I can totally relate because when I got my first job at an agency, my colleagues or the environment there were also that great. We're just totally fine. You can't do anything about it.

But if you realize that, it's time to join a community that works for you and really exchange, focus on the human parts, go to events, meet people and inspire each other, get feedback and help each other grow.

For me, community is something that's very close to my heart and one of the most important things that really kept me going through all those years doing social media, sharing all those things, all the content basically for free, because I think community is so important to lift each other up, to help each other and to inspire each other, right? To help each other grow.

Now let's move to point number four, which is developing a growth mindset. And this is easier said than done because the word growth mindset is everywhere and it's so cool to say it, but not a lot of people know what it actually means. This is, or let me say it like that. I think in the end, it's really about questioning everything that is here to create the best experience for the user.

And maybe some of you have seen the or have listened to the podcast episode that I shared about the Rabbit R1, which is a device that basically that uses artificial intelligence, large language models to do certain things for you.

There are no apps, only AI on this device. And for me as a UX designer, it's really fascinating to see because the only way you interact with this device are text prompts. You get certain visual outputs. For example, if you ask, show me or I'm looking for a weekend playlist, then you see three recommendations for a weekend playlist. You choose one and then it plays the weekend playlist.

And this is a very different way of interacting with technology, right? Like usual way would be like unlock your phone, search for Spotify, enter weekend playlist, seeing a huge list of weekend playlist, selecting one. So there are many more steps. In the end, what I want to say with it is the way how humans interact with technology will change because of AI. At some point, there won't be apps needed. And what I am seeing is, especially when I'm sharing these slides,

kind of discussions on social media. There are always people who say, no, there will always be apps. People need that. People need to have apps for certain tasks. They, you know, it's impossible that they will ever be replaced. I can't believe that. And I think it's always great to question things that you hear and really be a bit cautious about certain topics.

But what's more helpful for the future is to have this growth mindset of really rethinking everything you know. Okay, I learned that we have apps for basically everything throughout my whole career, but do we really need apps? Isn't there a better way to solve a certain problem? Because in the end, for a user, it's not about using an app. It's about getting a problem solved.

And I think this is the mindset that we really need. Can we do it better? And don't do things over and over again because we have learned it from our early stages of the career, but really rethinking everything. So thinking again. And the last point, number five, is pretty related to the first point. The first point was using AI.

Point number five is really learning about AI and technology, understanding what is happening. And for that, you need to be really curious about what is going on there. And unfortunately, I'm seeing a lot of designers being really scared about technology, thinking it's too difficult. It's

It's hard to understand, but it actually is not that hard to understand. And you don't need to know everything. You just need to understand the basics to be able to communicate, to talk with a developer. And you know that, right? Like if you are designing websites, if you don't know the basics of code, you will have a hard time really discussing a web project with a developer, right? So the more you understand a little bit, a little peek of what is going on technology-wise,

the better for you, the better for communication and the easier it is for you to speak up in conversations and also ask the right questions. So here comes a little summary.

First of all, my number one tip is to really use AI. Get into the habit of using AI on a daily basis for a lot of different things and experiment. This helps you to, first of all, get curious about what is possible and gets you excited, but also helps you to be a little bit less scared of the tools and how difficult it is because it actually is not difficult. So first of all, use AI.

Number two is work on your communication and people soft skills. Learn how to articulate your design decisions, what you really want out of a project and learn how to present and communicate. Number three is

Join a community, exchange, learn and get inspired by each other because the future that we are currently building, we are building this together as a group. So we need to support each other, lift each other up and connect with each other. And I think this is so important, especially in these times and when we don't have the perfect surrounding or perfect environment where we can really thrive. And number four is developing a growth mindset. So there's also a great book that I forgot to mention. It's called

Think Again. It's an amazing book that really focuses on re-evaluating situations based on new information. So each time you get new information, you rethink a certain situation or a certain solution.

This is pretty exhausting for our mind because for us it's much easier to stick to a certain decision. But the more you get into those growth and into this growth mindset of thinking again, the easier it will be for you to come up with right solutions and shape the future basically.

And number five is understanding technology. And there I'm especially talking about generative AI, how generative AI is working, how things are structured to be a part of those important conversations at the moment. Okay, I hope this was helpful. Let me know what you think. And for everyone who would like to join the

future of your ex community you can find all the information in the show notes i would love to see you there super excited for it can't wait and wish you all wonderful day and see you in the future