Design To Empower The Brain
Our brains are not the same as they were 20 years ago. Due to the technological revolution, we are addicted to multitasking — it gives us dopamine and makes us feel happy and successful. But when we think we are multitasking we are not really paying attention at all. In fact, people can’t multitask. Research has shown that multitaskers are 40 percent less productive and significantly less creative.
An example that is a great starting point of solving this problem is Rigamajig by Cas Holman which I recently discovered watching Abstract on Netflix. Rigamajig is a large-scale building kit for hands-on free play and learning. The building kit is a collection of wooden planks, wheels, pulleys, nuts, bolts and rope allows children to follow their curiosity through play.
What I love about this project is that it encourages children to think for themselves, to focus and be creative. I believe this project can really have an impact on those children’s general focus now and later in life.
Another example is Everyday Experiments an ongoing series of digital experiments with IKEA which challenge the role of technology in the home. Their mission is to improve the relationship between technology in the home and to prove that it can be peaceful, helpful and playful. SPACE10 asked several studios to propose ideas and there are already 18 experiments. The most playful projects allow people to build forts and give their furniture character by giving them a friendly face. These experiments make it easy to see your home in a whole different way.
The projects made me wonder: how can we as designers empower the brain of our user? How can we help to train the brain? How can we let our user focus better? How can we make our brain better like it was 20 years ago?
