Spatial computing: what can designers learn from Invisible Cities?
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
“We are still at the dawn of a new digital era: artificial intelligence, virtual worlds, augmented reality, and other technical and societal changes are reframing the world we live in.
However, from a spatial design perspective, they have so far been lame and ordinary. Without the constraints in the physical world, how do we draft the urban blueprints in the metaverse? Planners and designers of these new worlds can find inspiration from Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, in which he revealed a poetic and mathematical approach to “urban planning” in the imaginary worlds.”
Spatial computing: what can designers learn from Invisible Cities? →
Black Box: A Pregnancy Discrimination Memoir →
[Sponsored] Black Box is a cautionary tale about pregnancy discrimination and a call to action. Chelsey Glasson shares her path from feeling like a grateful and proud tech worker, to spending her breaks crying as a vulnerable outcast, to filing a lawsuit against one of the world’s biggest tech giants. Readers will walk away with a better understanding of how to navigate workplace discrimination and harassment and the changes needed to make the path to holding employers accountable more accessible.
Editor picks
How (and should?) we stop the infinite scroll →
Is endless scrolling evil?Apple’s Vision Pro, the mouse and the cat →
A lesson in strategy from an ancient Zodiac tale.A product tsunami is coming →
How AI is reshaping product management.
The UX Collective is an independent design publication that elevates unheard design voices and illuminates the path to design mastery and critical thinking. Here’s how we’re boosting stories through our partnership with Medium.
Framer AI can design a website better than you can (and in 15 seconds) →
Make me think
Language model sketchbook, or why I hate chatbots →
“The primary interface everyone and their mother jumps to at this point is the chatbot. We are irreversibly anchored to this text-heavy, turn-based interface paradigm. And sure, it's a great solution in a lot of cases! It's flexible, familiar, and easy to implement. But it's also the lazy solution.”Humans are biased; generative AI is worse →
“The world according to Stable Diffusion is run by White male CEOs. Women are rarely doctors, lawyers or judges. Men with dark skin commit crimes, while women with dark skin flip burgers.”Considering AI as belief system →
“As consumer facing AIs hit the mainstream we have experienced ripples of excitement, awe, anxiety and existential dread as people parse and internalise their potential. Where do the opportunities lie? How will the harms play out and whom will they affect? How will our future selves reflect upon the decisions made today that lead to the entrenched status quos of tomorrow?”
Little gems this week
Designing for spatial passthrough experience →
Will ChatGPT-like UI replace graphical interfaces? →
Iconic icons: celebrating design’s nifty little helpers →
Tools and resources
UX bites →
A collection of smart, bitesized interactions.Facilitating brainstorms →
Designing engaging and productive gatherings.Bottom sheets UX →
Definition and guidelines.
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