Exploring User Needs in the Future of AI to Uncover Gaps and Opportunities [Part 1]
Project Overview:
This ten-week project used user-centered research to envision future scenarios for 2050. Through interactive interviews and co-design workshops, we explored user aspirations, fears, and needs related to four possible futures: Prioritizing People, People and Planet in Harmony, Prioritizing the Planet, and Decline of Both.
Several rounds of interviews and co-design workshops were conducted to gather user data and insights, ensuring that the findings were deeply grounded in user perspectives.
Final Deliverables:
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Developed user-centered future scenarios that addressed participants' aspirations, concerns, and envisioned interactions with technology.
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Synthesized and translated research findings into actionable insights to guide user experience design and innovation strategies.
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Created a confidential video leveraging storytelling and data visualization to present key insights in a clear and engaging format for stakeholders.
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Deliverables provided strategic guidance for aligning future design concepts with user needs and behaviors.
Client:
Collaboration with 99P Labs (a partnership between Honda Research Institute USA and The Ohio State University)
Timeline:
10-Week Summer Internship Project (2023)
Team:
Collaborated with a team of five design researchers under the guidance of Liz Sanders
My Role:
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Led interactive user interviews and co-design workshops to gather qualitative insights.
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Developed and facilitated participatory design activities to uncover user needs and preferences.
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Synthesized qualitative data into key themes and actionable design outcomes using systematic analysis methods.
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Used storytelling techniques and visualization tools to translate research insights into future-focused scenarios.
Goals
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Scenario Exploration:
Envisioned optimistic and harmonious futures, focusing on the intersection of humans, robots, and AI.
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Human-Centered Design:
Emphasized a human-first perspective to assess the impact of emerging technologies on society.
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Critical Perspectives:
Investigated non-harmonious scenarios to address potential challenges and tensions in a tech-driven future.
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Advanced Technology Exploration:
Explored and applied cutting-edge technologies central to shaping the vision of HHS205.
Design Research Steps:
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Preliminary research
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First-round interviews
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Second-round interviews
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Three co-design workshops
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Tech Industry Engineers
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Ohio State students
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People over age 45
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Analysis of all research activities
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Creation of videos and vignettes
Preliminary research
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Conducted user interviews with 12 participants to uncover aspirations, fears, and expectations for the future.
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Reviewed secondary research to supplement user insights and ensure a comprehensive understanding of the domain.
Main Finding
The preliminary research confirmed our initial hypothesis that the voices of everyday people were not being addressed in thinking and dreaming about the future. From here, we took a human-centered approach, using co-design methods to explore the future with them.
Interviews with everyday people
We conducted interviews with 12 individuals from across the United States and engaged them in various co-design activities to generate ideas for future experiences.
The user interview platform used: Dscout
Key Insights from the Interviews:
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Revealing Future Visions:
Everyday people shared insightful thoughts, dreams, and fears about the future of technology when given the right prompts and tools.
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Harnessing Creative Potential:
Their ideas revealed imaginative applications for new technologies, highlighting their potential for creative thinking.
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Assessing Research Effectiveness:
We identified which user research activities were most effective in gathering meaningful insights.
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Enhancing Engagement Methods:
These findings provided guidance on refining methods for future research and workshops, ensuring deeper engagement and more impactful results.
Navigating Uncertainty: The Power of the Future Cone
Future Cone, Voros, 2017
We incorporated the "future cone" into our project to address the challenges of imagining the future and to provide a structured approach for envisioning possibilities.
Here's Why:
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The "future cone" served as a framework to explore the vast range of potential futures, emphasizing that the future is not predetermined but shaped by choices and influences.
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By using the "future cone," we gained a broader perspective on the complexities and uncertainties of the future, enabling us to navigate challenges and opportunities effectively.
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This approach helped us make more informed and strategic decisions while fostering creativity in exploring future scenarios.
We conducted three co-design workshops with 29 participants across seven teams.
Tech Industry Engineers
Ohio State students aged 18 to 35.
People over age 45
Research Activities for Co-Design Workshops with Participants
1. The thing from the future:
The “thing from the future” activity warmed people up to their creativity. They chose one card of each color and then generated an idea for the future at the intersection of the cards.
Observation in Action:
We were surprised by how quickly the co-designers (participants) were able to generate ideas! All the ideas generated were incorporated in the final analysis.
2. 2050 Arup framework
We asked each group to assign the ideas they generated during the Thing from the Future activity to one of the quadrants in the 2050 Arup Framework. The quadrants represent:
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Prioritizing People: Focusing on improving people's quality of life.
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People and Planet in Harmony: Emphasizing a balance where both humanity and the environment thrive together.
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Prioritizing the Planet: Giving precedence to the environment and sustainability over individual human needs.
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Decline of Both: A scenario where both humanity and the environment face decline.
Observation in Action:
It was difficult to assign a team to the Planet First Worldview. The ideas they generated from the Thing from the Future activity did not fit here. It appeared that we are not used to thinking about the planet first and people second.
3. Future world building
Based on their choices, each team was assigned to focus on one of the societal quadrants mentioned in the previous step. In this phase, they were tasked with envisioning various aspects of the 2050 world aligned with their assigned quadrant.
This activity was very helpful in getting each team to consider the broader perspectives for the worlds their personas would be living in.
4. Creation of future personas (people in 2050)
In this activity, each team created two personas to represent their assigned worldview. Participants were provided with a selection of images depicting various activities, lifestyles, and faces to inspire and shape their persona development.
Observation in Action:
The co-designers (participants) created 14 future personas: 7 males and 7 females (3 of them being robots). They were a diverse group but not as diverse as they could have been considering the materials that were provided. There were no older people or people with visible disability in the selections.
5. Creation of future experiences and artifacts
In this final activity the co-designers (participants) were provided with a wide range of materials to work with. They rose to the challenge and created an extraordinary range of ideas, having been well prepared by the previous activities.
Highlights of the Co-Designers' (Participants) Ideas
Co-designers (participants) utilized various materials to visualize their ideas for the year 2050, exploring concepts that ranged from experiences to products. Through their presentations, they shared many valuable and intriguing insights, revealing both their dreams and fears about the future.
Comprehensive Analysis and Synthesis of the Three Workshops
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Data Collection Review: Analyzed recordings and transcripts to capture user feedback and ideas in detail.
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Thematic Analysis: Identified recurring patterns and insights to uncover user motivations, aspirations, and pain points.
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Affinity Mapping: Clustered user-generated concepts to visualize relationships and prioritize themes.
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Synthesis of Insights: Integrated themes into actionable insights that align with user needs and the vision for 2050.
*Most of the analysis for this project was conducted on Miro, an online collaboration platform that facilitated organization, visualization, and teamwork.
Key Themes in Envisioning the Future Across All Groups (range from optimistic to pessimistic)
These key themes are more detailed and will inform the next phase of the project to envision a Hybrid Harmonious Society in 2050.
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People
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Citizen activists
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Community living
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Widening wealth gap
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Urban/rural divide
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Black and brown people disadvantaged
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Living
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Living in small spaces
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Condensed urban living
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Living on other planets
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Underground and underwater living
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Living in cars
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Nature
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Animals have been freed
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Everyone is responsible for caring for a tree
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Synthetic trees are produced
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Pollution and unlivable conditions prevail
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Adaptive design
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Modular, convertible and extensible
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Adaptation of houses, roads, cars and clothing
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Transportation
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Old transportation systems are abandoned
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Sustainable innovation such as MagLev
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Old cars are used to house people
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Circular economy
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Reuse, recycle, repurpose, refurbish and regenerate
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Sharing and renting
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E-waste composting
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Food
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Local natural food production
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Vertical agriculture
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Synthetic food
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Customized food
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Survival rations
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Government
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Sets carbon limitations
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Not always a positive force
Final Deliverables:
Due to the confidentiality of the project, most aspects of the final deliverables cannot be shared. However, the outcomes included:
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User-Centered Scenarios: Developed future scenarios that reflected participants' aspirations, concerns, and envisioned interactions with technology.
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Actionable Insights: Synthesized and translated research findings into practical recommendations to guide user experience design and innovation strategies.
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Confidential Video: Created a video using storytelling and data visualization to present key insights in a clear and engaging format for stakeholders.
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Strategic Guidance: Provided deliverables that aligned future design concepts with user needs and behaviors, ensuring actionable and user-focused outcomes.
Professional Growth and Reflections
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Refined user research methodologies to encourage participants to openly share their thoughts and needs, ensuring the collection of rich, meaningful data to inform design decisions.
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Strengthened user interview and communication skills through online and in-person sessions, enhancing my ability to connect with participants and elicit valuable insights.
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Analyzed and synthesized qualitative data to uncover actionable insights, bridging user feedback to design opportunities.
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Planned and led design research workshops and focus groups, fostering an environment of collaboration and creativity to generate impactful ideas.
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Improved time management skills to balance multiple tasks and meet project deadlines effectively.
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Takeaway: The most rewarding aspect of this project was engaging with everyday people during the research process. Seeing how participants, regardless of their background, shared unique perspectives and innovative ideas highlighted the transformative potential of diverse user insights in shaping meaningful design solutions.
