Data Enabled Design: designing for intelligent ecosystems

Keynote Speaker:

Eva Deckers

Title of Presentation:

Data Enabled Design: designing for intelligent ecosystems

Date & time:

Thursday 8th of August 16:45

Eva joined Philips in 2013 as Strategic Designer, after finishing her PhD on a design perspective towards artificial intelligence. In her role as Strategic Designer at Philips, she was design lead for the Maternal and Infant Care domain. She had an active role in setting up and giving direction to this strategic area, crossing several businesses and markets. Here she combined in depth domain knowledge with user and customer insights and a creative perspective on how to build such a horizontal area. Furthermore, Eva was responsible for developing and implementing the so-called Business Value Proposition process. A successful design thinking process that supports businesses in framing their position from an outside in perspective. As the Strategic Design lead she helped multiple businesses to develop their customer driven strategy. As part of her role in Strategic Design she set up and directed an innovation stream on how data is used in the design process and how we ensure we design for meaningful propositions that encompass data and artificial intelligence. This led to leading a new team called Data Enabled Design with which she is on cutting edge of what design can do. She regularly is invited to speak about Data Enabled Design, and how Philips Design is advancing the design discipline.

Data Enabled Design: designing for intelligent ecosystems

Designers increasingly need to deliver value in a networked reality. The design discipline grew mature in the industrial paradigm, in which companies typically deliver singly products to a user. Value is created through efficient production and continuous (perceived) improvement. In the 80’ and 90’ we saw a shift towards the experience paradigm, in which companies typically focus on market segmentation with tailored solutions, delivering targeted experiences to customers with a particular lifestyle. Creative direction of brand strategy grew into a critical competence, a corporate design functions like Philips Experience Design, required now a holistic view of a variety of design disciplines, including product, interaction, graphic and communication design. Moreover, designers needed to start thinking in terms of target groups with particular lifestyle preferences; as a result, design became more involved in the identification of consumer needs and desires.

Now society has entered the knowledge paradigm, which requires supporting people in creating and leading a life that is uniquely their own. People are looking for evolving experiences that are capable of growing and changing with them – what in turn produces data and content that contributes to shaping their own experience: personalization. As such, companies need to shift from being the creator to becoming the enabler of experiences, providing the platform and ecosystem within which users can add their own personal touch.

This does not mean that values and ways of working related to the Industrial or Experience Paradigm are no longer valid. However making the step from linear to networked value exchange requires a mindset change and a new toolset for the design community.