Fighting the "Enshittification" of Experience / Dan Saffer / Ep. #243
Service Design Show
Design Helping People Adopt New Tech
Dan reflects on design's role in helping users form mental models for new technologies like AI.
Sure, design might be going through a tough period...
But as the saying goes, "never waste a good crisis."
So this moment of uncertainty, where everyone is wondering if (or rather when) AI will take over their job, might actually be our biggest opportunity to rise up.
It is a unique chance to reclaim our core focus of designing services that genuinely improve people's lives, rather than just extracting value to maximize shareholder returns.
Of course to discuss an existential topic like this we had to find someone who's been around the block for some time. And boy did we find someone!
For this episode we sit down with the legendary Dan Saffer to chat about what we can learn from the last two decades of design evolution.
We try to wrap our heads around what caused the erosion of strategic design from its heyday, which, frankly, wasn't even that long ago.
We look into how we somehow got identified with the outputs, like running workshops or creating interfaces in Figma, rather than the outcomes. And more importantly, what we can do to prevent that from happening again, whether that’s with journey management or crafting smart prompts.
And finally we also tackle the big question of why design isn't having a greater influence on the current wave of AI, and how we can change that.
So bring your cassette player for this one, because we're going back in time for some nostalgia and a healthy dose of hope.
Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact!
~ Marc
--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to Episode 243
03:00 Why Design Has Failed the Enterprise
07:15 Defining a 'Well-Designed Service'
11:00 4 Stages of Design Maturity
13:45 The Critical Challenge of Design at Scale
16:30 Debunking the Myth being Design as a 'Luxury'
19:30 Is Service Design an Attitude or a Practice?
20:45 Impact of Cloud & Mobile on Design Challenges
23:15 Designing for the 'Cloud Age'
29:00 Service Design vs. Interaction Design
31:45 Focus on the System, Not Just the Artifact
35:00 The Challenge of Hiring True System-Level Designers
37:30 Moving Design from Extractive to Generative
44:45 Only Way to Win Is to Not Play the Game
48:15 Driving Organizational Change Through Design Culture
52:45 Why Designers Burn Out
56:45 How to Measure the Impact of Generative Design
1:00:00 Why AI is a People Problem
1:03:15 What Makes a Great Design Leader?
1:06:15 The Essential Mindset Shift for Modern Design Leadership
1:09:15 The Great Opportunity of AI in Service Design
1:13:45 Final Takeaway
1:14:15 Question to Ponder
--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---
- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dansaffer/
- Blue Sky - https://blueskydirectory.com/profiles/odannyboy.bsky.social
- Medium - https://medium.com/ui-for-ai/welcome-to-ui-for-ai-eb22aef8d26c
--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---
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