Speculative Futures: Technology & Design Thinking

Technology has always played a critical role in our practice. One of our key value adds to clients?—?particularly those outside India?—?is in establishing an understanding of context.

We work to bridge the realities of our clients with the end-users of their products and services. This practice allows those sitting in the Londons and New Yorks of the world to have a better understanding of what life is like in the Delhis and Jubas.

We use rich media to illustrate the lives of end-users, and holistically frame their experiences. This has led us to create documentary films, photo galleries, and soundscapes for nearly every project we undertake. Because we make these efforts, we are better able to create immersive workshop environments which reinforce our mandate of putting users at the forefront of any engagement. And we’re constantly looking for new and innovative ways to accomplish this.

Examples of how QS is taking advantage of new technologies:

At a recent workshop in Tanzania, we merged audio recordings of interviews with images, video, and even illustrations to facilitate proxy research for our participants. This was accompanied by Skype calls with research subjects. Both had incredible impact and provided a literal voice in the room for end-users. In a perfect world, our clientele would be able to visit these places and meet these people in person themselves. In the absence of that, these mixed media environments are a salient alternative.

What we accomplished in Tanzania is a very small scale virtual reality. Looking at the rapid rise of VR and even augmented reality, there’s a lot of excitement in the Quicksand studio about the environments we’ll be able to create in the near future. We work in at times very challenging settings and it is not always possible for clients to join us for field visits. We diligently work to provide a fair and accurate assessment of these settings, but nothing is as impactful as witnessing these in person. Ethnography requires immersion, and both VR and AR represent an exciting next step in facilitating that for clients.

We are also keenly interested in the potential for gamification for our work. And we have seen a rise in projects related to such across sectors in the recent months. Our GamesLab team has spent the past few years cutting their teeth on their first video game Antariksha Sanchar. Learnings from this are shifting our thinking on how best to not only engage with people, but communicate important lessons from our work. Passive consumption of information is rapidly giving way to interactive experiences, and we intend incorporate this into our deliverables in new and creative ways.

Beyond these complex new technologies, we’re also excited by the mobile market growth in India. Increased connectivity, particularly in rural areas, will facilitate incredible opportunities for the Base of Pyramid people we work with and seek to represent. From benefits transfers to connecting people, the mobile world is revolutionizing daily lives. Bridging different cultures and communities via mobile is the foundation for Duet, our joint endeavour with the UK’s Invisible Flock.

Looking forward…

In today’s ever-changing world, technology allows for incredible engagement. The ability to experience other people’s contexts even remotely will only further build empathy and understanding. The future for design thinking is bright indeed.