Last week, our designers got inspired at Bumpfestival (Kortijk, BE). Bump festival is a yearly conference for designers, illustrators, UX experts, etc. Thanks to always evolving new technology, the world of design is changing faster than ever. Before we got to the festival, we had one big question on our mind: Can technology replace designers?
Designing experiences
According to Hayley Hughes – experience designer -, we reached the limit of traditional graphic design. Computers can now easily design a beautiful website.
So technology can replace designers? Luckily for us, that is not entirely true. Designers can do something computers cannot: designing experiences.
Designers can do something computers cannot: designing experiences.
When creating a website, we mainly focus on backend, making sure all works well and smoothly. This focus on the machine is an important one. But too many focus on the machine and not enough people focus on the people using the machine. Computers can make beautiful designs, but they cannot easily adapt them to the actual users and they are not as creative as people.
Today’s designers should in other words not only focus on visual design, but also on user experience and brand personality.
Satisfied with that answer, we took another inspiration bath and learned about some artists using technology in their art. We hope you find their art as amazing as we did.
Machine learning
Machine learning and AI are still at an early stage. Still, we can already do some amazing things with them. Andreas Refsgaard – interaction designer – showed us his practices and inspired us to experiment more with the resources we have today. Always wanted to teach your computer to recognize a hotdog, or to play in a band using just one hand? You can! Use this machine learning tool by Andreas Refsgaard.
Do you think it is impossible to literally draw a song? Andreas Refsgaard learned a machine to recognize his drawings of musical instruments and made his own song.
Animation and technology
Eran Hilleli is an animation designer. During his studies, his animations were mainly 2D. Over time, he started experimenting with using a computer to create 3D animations. Finally, he discovered his personal style proofing computer art can be really cool. Eran Hilleli loves making loops where nothing is really happening, they work “therapeutical” for him. We think they look truly amazing.
Bumpfestival learned that the future of designers is one of creativity, technology, and UX. Here at Baldwin, we are really excited about that and we are constantly learning to work with new technology. Since our designers are creative UX experts, we believe Baldwin can face any challenge.
