the future laboratory
hello. we are grey matter. To begin, we were set the brief of looking at the humanisation of technology and the evolving relationship between us and the digital world over the next five years. This document will present to you our research process, which informed our ideas and concepts, then finishing on our final outcome, a final fusion of our research, ideas and beliefs.
grey matter
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1. research process 2. idea + concept 3. final outcome
humanisation of technology
To set the parameters for this document, we have explored the influence of our environments on our well being and memory. It is this that acts as the fundamental focus of our work.
When beginning research for the project, we soon found that there was an overwhelming amount of interesting information available to us. To help us organise this, we devised our own seeds to help categorise our thoughts and ideas, a blog which helped us to share and absorb each other’s research.
research process
the future laboratory
1. research process
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humanisation of technology
Our weekly seeds contained a summarised piece from each of us of the best or most interesting piece of research we had found that week. These showcased examples around consumer attitudes, on-topic art exhibitions, news stories, product launches and biological trends.
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visual literacy We scoured a range of sources for images which we felt encapsulated the theme of cognitive wellbeing to communicate our ideas effectively and collated them on one board, where we could share, annotate and like each other’s images.
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Mood imagery was a key focus of ours when image researching, as we wanted to capture a feel, an atmosphere, a way of life, as opposed to literal images of technology.
We are lateral, not literal
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humanisation of technology
the future laboratory
grey matter
humanisation of technology
the future laboratory
Our research led us to noticing that whilst human beings can be physically fit, it is the mind which often deteriorates first.
The body does not match the mind, and the shift from sustaining our physicality to sustaining our mentality is eminent.
humanisation of technology
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Similar to our weekly seeds, we began collecting a broad range of articles which we felt were most interesting, using delicious.com and a scrapbook as a way to keep everything in one place. This is where our interest of psychological wellbeing was born.
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article collation
cartogram -
The cartogram brought our research and visuals together to outlines and define our key idea in one space.
An amalgamation of our thoughts, reference points and information.
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research process
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a physical, searchable and sharable memory of everything...
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humanisation of technology
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research process
the future laboratory
“It’s inevitable that one day, you will be able to recall anything that everhappened to you in high resolution, 3D video and audio -
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...how will the future change when everyone effectively has perfect memory?� - Sean Koehl, Strategist at Intel
humanisation of technology
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research process
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memory
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Following on from the trend of fitness tracking and the quantified self movement, we began to think about mindfulness, and memory health. research process
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The body does not match the mind, and the shift from sustaining our physicality to sustaining our mentality is eminent. Memories act as a collection of our life, our experiences, who we are as people. Memories inform our decisions, and are the foundation to our future.
grey matter
humanisation of technology
Preservation of our bodies is the now. Preservation of our minds is the future.
From this, we identified three possible scenarios, or ‘pillars’ within the sector.
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research process
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These were prevention, regulation and manipulation
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1. The manipulation of our minds and memories for the better.
2. The regulation and ownership of our mentality and physicality.
3. The prevention of our general outlook and wellbeing worsening.
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memory + space We applied our macro trends to the sector of spacial environments, and immersive, engaging spaces which challenge and aid the development of the mind.
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We then narrowed this further to office spaces, as work plays an intrgral role in our lives . Remembering tasks, client information and work processes are just some of the memory challenges we face in the office, and can often be the most stressful of environements.
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ideas + concepts
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Alongside enhancing our productivity and focus, memory also has a substantial affect on our working relationships within the office. The way in which we work and interact with our co-workers is a leading factor to how we then proceed to approach activities and tasks and therefore it is important to understand the influence our memories have on working relationships.
ideas + concepts
working relationships
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With further investigation into our pillars of focus: memory, workplace and relationships, our big idea has developed into looking at how memory affects our approach to taking on new projects and working with others.
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We began thinking about creating a service that would help memory, that could be implemented in offices to encourage better relationships and focus. This is where The Space Between was born.
The Space Between is a service dedicated to bridging the gap between workplace productivity and memory accuracy in order to create an enhanced working environment, both independently and as a collective.
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ideas + concepts
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branding
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the space O
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between logo
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The name derives from the metaphorical space between memories, space between thoughts, the transition between two states. It also represents the distance between people in terms of relationships and understanding.
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product
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The Space Between have designed a product, named the i/o box, which uses these factors to improve workplace productivity and relationships. i/o stands for input/output, which is the main function of the product, as you are able to input memories or recall them from the box.
The i/o box is integrated into offices by being placed in an isolated space, purposely designed to utilise the functions of the product.
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ideas + concepts
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Our final outcome reflects the insights and findings that we have uncovered in creating a digital memory database that enhances productivity in the workplace.
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final outcome
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scan this image using the layar app to watch it come to life tap the image on your phone screen to play humanisation of technology
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INTERACTIVE PRINT
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what’s on your mind? alicedaisywoods@hotmail.co.uk gmscotter@hotmail.co.uk kirstyfoster@hotmail.com
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humanisation of technology
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the future laboratory
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