The Magic of AI-Powered Design

20

October

2023

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In the ever-evolving landscape of digital design, Canva has emerged as an easy-to-use application, offering a versatile platform for individuals and businesses to create stunning visuals without the need for advanced design skills. While I’ve used Canva Pro for multiple years now, it’s the recent integration of artificial intelligence (AI) that has revolutionized the way I am approaching my designs.

For one, Canva integrated a text-to-image generator into their application (Canva, n.d.a). This means that it has the ability to generate images from text. Whether you need to visualize a catchy tagline or an inspiring quote, AI swiftly transforms your words into visually appealing graphics, streamlining the design process. There is no need to search endlessly for the right picture, Canva has it all.

Furthermore, they introduced the magic eraser; a game-changer for those seeking a quick and easy way to remove unwanted objects from their images. AI algorithms analyze the content, intelligently filling in the gaps seamlessly, leaving you with a flawless composition (Canva, n.d.b). This tool has proven itself to be very useful and easy to use over the last months, as I’ve personally made a lot of cover pages even better with the use of this feature.

Lastly, magic design. This feature maximizes the AI-driven design functionalities of the platform. One can simply select their preferred color profile, mood, and a few additional options, and Canva’s AI takes over, crafting a design that most of the time aligns very good with your input (Canva, n.d.c).

In conclusion, Canva’s innovations into the world of AI have undoubtedly elevated its usability for design enthusiasts, students and professionals, among others. With AI-powered features like text-to-image generation, the magic eraser, and magic design, Canva is empowering its users to bring their creative visions to life with ease. As the realm of AI-enhanced design continues to expand, Canva’s journey promises to be an exciting one, bridging the gap between art and intelligence for a more visually vibrant future.

Bibliography:

Magic eraser: Remove objects from photos with one click | CANVA. Canva.com. (n.d.b). https://www.canva.com/features/magic-eraser/

Using text to Image – CANVA Help Center. Canva.com. (n.d.a). https://www.canva.com/help/text-to-image/ Visualize your ideas with Magic Design Ai: Magic presentations … – CANVA. Canva.com. (n.d.c). https://www.canva.com/designschool/tutorials/new-features/magic-design/

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Cybersecurity by Design

17

September

2022

5/5 (2)

We are living in a continuously digitising world where increasingly more aspects of our life are governed by IT processes. The rapid adoption of IT means that cybersecurity incidents are on the rise (ENISA, 2022). Governments and organisations alike are investing in efforts to raise cybersecurity awareness. For example, people are being trained to treat emails carefully, especially if they contain a link or file. This increased cybersecurity awareness is expected to reduce the risk of cyber incidents happening. However, research calls the effectiveness of these awareness strategies into question. Studies show that long-term changes in the digital behaviour of individuals as a result of these awareness campaigns are little (Bada, et al. 2019). Given that awareness does not prevent the users of IT systems from compromising cybersecurity, another approach is required.

The cybersecurity by design (CSD) model changes the assumption from which the awareness model is operating. Instead of assuming that awareness will prevent people from making mistakes, the CSD model assumes that individuals will make mistakes, nevertheless. The question for software developers then becomes: how can I develop my software such that the risk of compromised cybersecurity is mitigated even if careless users utilise it? Major software companies like Microsoft and Google have already designed their software with this question in mind. In Outlook, emails from unverified senders are displayed in a protected mode where links, images, and files are disabled. This prevents users from mindlessly downloading a file or link, both of which could be potentially harmful. Naturally, the user has the option to mark the sender as verified thereby enabling the content. Another implementation of the CSD model can be found in Google Chrome. Google maintains a list of websites that might put users at risk for malware or phishing. So, when users try to navigate to a potentially harmful website, a warning message is displayed, and they are prevented from entering. Here too, users have the option of navigating to the website despite this warning.

Both examples show how software developers can aid their users in navigating the digital world more safely. The CSD model thereby shows great promise for making the digital world a safer place. However, it cannot do so all by itself. Despite the criticism that the awareness model has faced I am convinced that it can work well together with the CSD model. Being made aware of risks can always have added value, especially in a CSD proof environment. A CSD proof environment can shield users from potentially dangerous content, but it is up to the users themselves to make the final risk assessment. To be able to do so, awareness campaigns can be of help. Ultimately, it is a right balance of CSD proof software and user awareness that will add up to safe navigation of the digital world.  

Sources:

Bada, et al., 2019, ‘Cyber Security Awareness Campaigns: Why do they fail to change       behaviour?’, International Conference on Cyber Security for Sustainable Society,             accessed 10th of September 2022, https://arxiv.org/abs/1901.02672

ENISA, 2021, ‘ENISA Threat Landscape 2021’, accessed 10th of September 2022,             https://www.enisa.europa.eu/publications/enisa-threat-landscape-2021

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Dark Patterns: Hotel California or Roach Motel?

10

October

2021

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Fans of Hotel California by the Eagles will most likely recognise the famous last lines, which say: ‘You can check out any time you like. But you can never leave!’. While there are multiple interpretations on what this may refer to, this phrase can also be applied to how digital interfaces can be designed to make you do things that you did not want to do. Interface designers use all sorts of tricks to make sure that you, the user, is nudged into specific behavior which is beneficial for their purposes. Not convinced that this is actually true? Have you ever tried to cancel your subscription but you couldn’t find an easy way to do it? Or have you ever clicked a piece of normal looking content, only to find out that it was a disguised advertisement? These are all examples of dark patterns: design that is intentionally crafted in such a way that it is misleading or complex to perform certain tasks.

Case: Amazon’s Roach Motel

If you have ever tried to delete your Amazon account but gave up trying, I don’t blame you. The interface design of Amazon’s website has been intentionally crafted in such a way to discourage users into performing an action that hurts the company. Not only is the option buried deep in the website, it is also not located in an intuitive location. Take a look at the fragment below (0:19 – 1:41) to see the amount of hoops you have to go through.

Which dark patterns exist?

Harry Brignull is an expert in the field of user experience, who coined the term ‘dark patterns’ back in 2010. On his website, darkpatterns.org, he shares his findings of the types of dark patterns along with examples that you have probably already encountered at some point. Below a small overview of dark patterns which you are likely to come across:

  • Roach Motel: Just like the Hotel California, it is easy to get in – put near impossible to get out. The Amazon case is a good example of this dark pattern: signing up is very easy, but deleting your account is nearly impossible if you don’t know where to look.
  • Bait and switch: When you expect a specific thing to occur, but something else occurs instead. Think of online stores luring you in with low prices, only to see that additional charges are applied in the checkout. Or Microsoft’s attempt to ‘misguide’ users into upgrading to Windows 10.
  • Confirmshaming: Trying to guilt the user into a specific action, where the decline option is worded in such a way to shame the user. Think of wordings such as: ‘No thanks, I don’t want to benefit from this exclusive discount’.

What can we do about dark patterns?

As long as interface designers are able to nudge users into the behavior of their liking, dark patterns will most likely never cease to exist. Though, there is hope. According to Harry Brignull, the best weapon against dark patterns is to be aware of the presence of such patterns and to shame the companies who use them. LinkedIn, for example, has settled a lawsuit for $13 million for utilising dark patterns to trick users into inviting their network to the platform. While in practise this only implied a mere 10 dollars for every user affected, it does show that there is awareness of such malpractices.

References

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxkrdLI6e6M
https://blog.ionixxtech.com/how-to-avoid-dark-patterns-in-ux/
https://www.darkpatterns.org/types-of-dark-pattern

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User-centered design vs Design-driven innovation

10

October

2016

5/5 (1) Over the past years, design has seen a vast increase in attention from scholars. Throughout their innovation processes, firms are investing more in design.

One form of this design is the so-called user-centered design. This popular apporach to design starts with a thorough analysis of the customer and the discovery of needs of the client, hoping to discover any latent needs. However, user-centered approaches usually do not lead to market leadership or the perception of innovativeness, as incremental changes are seen more often.

Opposite to user-centered design is the approach of design-driven innovation. Through this approach, firms aims at radically redefining the meaning of a product to a customer. This form of design does not start from insights of observing or asking the end-user, as opposed to user-centered design. Customers, as has been found, are unable to express any radical ideas on product meanings due to the sociocultural context they are currently immersed in. Hence, any idea is likely to be a mere extension of what is already happening. The driving core of design-driven innovation is the firm’s vision about potential new product meanings and possibilities in the future.

In order to be successful in design-driven innovation, the process of emerging new product meanings should be understood, anticipated, proposed and influenced. The core is to understand the evolution of sociocultural models that shape the consumer’s perception, and be able to propose a new vision and meaning to that. As such, to a design-driven firm it is very useful to be in a network with firms following the same approach of redefining their products. A network, thus spanning outside firm boundaries, in which research and ideas are shared, makes a good basis. For example, Bang&Olufsen, but also Apple, are firms that have a clear vision on how a product should function and clearly use a design-drive approach for their products. As such, this has lead to B&O being widely recognized for its innovative approach to TVs and audiosystems, whereas Apple is largely seen as the biggest innovator in the smartphone/portables industries.

 

What do you think? Should all firms pursue a design-driven innovation process?

 

Verganti, R. (2008) ‘Design, Meanings, and Radical Innovation: A Metamodel and a Research Agenda’, Journal of Product Innovation Management, 25, pp. 436-456.

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Kickstarter.com: Kickstart your project

10

October

2012

No ratings yet. There has been a lot of talk about ‘prosuming’, the idea that the customer can co-create a product. This happens on various levels. However, there is always a company that builds the platform, and uses it’s own advertisements to make money of the products. A good example is Threadless. You can design your own clothing, but it still has a Threadless logo on it (perhaps only on the label). The same goes for Starbucks, in which ideas are ‘crowdsourced’ and may or may not be used in the final products of Starbucks. This phenomenon is called open innovation. I would like to argue that this isn’t open at all. It is based on the platform given by the company, and the company still holds responsibility. It is semi-open innovation.

What is (in my opinion) open innovation? A platform to create and produce your own ideas, any way you want. In one of the lectures Quirky was mentioned. This is a site that allows users to create there own products, and pitch them to a crowd. Users of the site then vote on it to start the production of the product. Afterwards, people can buy the product for a certain amount of money. The production process is however being managed through the site. Marketing, production advise etc. is al being monitored. So it is again, not completely open.

Then there is Kickstarter.com. This site offers a very basic platform to people who want to pitch their ideas on a site. Every project creator sets their project’s funding goal and a deadline. If people like the project, they can pledge money to make it happen. If the project succeeds in reaching its funding goal, all backers’ credit cards are charged when time expires. If the project falls short, no one is charged.

The amount of money you can pledge is predefined. So let’s say someone is creating a new bike, he can ask for a pledge of $10. This will most likely get you (as a backer) nothing in return (maybe a keychain of the new product). However, if the pledge is $150, you can get one of the bikes if the project makes it’s goal. The eventual retail price will be a lot higher, but because you are an early-bird, you get a discount.

So what kind of projects are being funded of Kickstarter? Well basically, these are the categories: Art, Comics, Dance, Design, Fashion, Film & Video, Food, Games, Music, Photography, Publishing, Technology and Theater. Since the launch of Kickstarter in April 2009, there has been pledged $350,000,000! There were over 30,000 successful projects.

A few examples of the funded projects:

Product Design:
[gigya src=”http://www.kickstarter.com/swf/kickplayer.swf” width=”480″ height=”360″ allowfullscreen=”true” allowscriptaccess=”always” wmode=”opaque” flashvars=”backcolor=000000&file=http%3A%2F%2Fs3.amazonaws.com%2Fksr%2Fprojects%2F325425%2Fvideo-167735-h264_high.mp4&image=http%3A%2F%2Fs3.amazonaws.com%2Fksr%2Fprojects%2F325425%2Fphoto-full.jpg&project_creators=A+Product+Design+project+by+Gamila+Company%3A+Aly+%26+Beth+Khalifa&project_title=Impress+Coffee+Brewer&project_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kickstarter.com%2Fprojects%2Finventiveculture%2Fimpress-coffee-brewer&screencolor=000000&skin=%2F%2Fwww.kickstarter.com%2Fswf%2Fkickskin.swf” ]

Music:
[gigya src=”http://www.kickstarter.com/swf/kickplayer.swf” width=”480″ height=”360″ allowfullscreen=”true” allowscriptaccess=”always” wmode=”opaque” flashvars=”backcolor=000000&file=http%3A%2F%2Fs3.amazonaws.com%2Fksr%2Fprojects%2F336849%2Fvideo-162806-h264_high.mp4&image=http%3A%2F%2Fs3.amazonaws.com%2Fksr%2Fprojects%2F336849%2Fphoto-full.jpg&project_creators=A+Music+project+by+Adam%2C+Edel+%26+Rocky&project_title=Mass+at+Midnight%3A+A+Christmas+CD&project_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kickstarter.com%2Fprojects%2Fadamedelandrocky%2Fmass-at-midnight-a-christmas-cd&screencolor=000000&skin=%2F%2Fwww.kickstarter.com%2Fswf%2Fkickskin.swf” ]

Art:
[gigya src=”http://www.kickstarter.com/swf/kickplayer.swf” width=”480″ height=”360″ allowfullscreen=”true” allowscriptaccess=”always” wmode=”opaque” flashvars=”backcolor=000000&file=http%3A%2F%2Fs3.amazonaws.com%2Fksr%2Fprojects%2F48145%2Fvideo-86036-h264_high.mp4&image=http%3A%2F%2Fs3.amazonaws.com%2Fksr%2Fprojects%2F48145%2Fphoto-full.jpg&project_creators=A+Public+Art+project+by+Asheer+Akram&project_title=Pakistani+Cargo+Truck+Initiative&project_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kickstarter.com%2Fprojects%2F56345699%2Fpakistani-cargo-truck-initiative&screencolor=000000&skin=%2F%2Fwww.kickstarter.com%2Fswf%2Fkickskin.swf” ]

As for open innovation, the entire process is managed by the project starter self. So no intervening from Kickstarter. Kickstarter only manages the money until the projects funding goal is reached. The only downside for us Europeans is that the shipping costs are a bit higher. The other downside is that payments are only possible through Amazon checkout.

I really urge everyone to take a look at this site. You can get a lot of handy and funny products for a low price. If the funding is unsuccesfull, you’ll just get your money back!

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