A Design Journey with IoT Pioneer Leandro Agrò

A Design Journey
with Leandro Agrò | Gmail, Twitter, Skype: leeander

LEANDRO AGRO’
Main
WE LOVE THINGS!
Things are our toys and we dismantle, hack, reload,
connect, enhance everything (IoT&Service Lab)
I am an awarded IxD/UX
Director, patents contributor,
with 15+ years of design and
team leadership.
Digital Design Director

Main
DGI
43PEOPLE
16COUNTRIES
80%ABROAD
REVENUES
45YEARS
50+AWARDS
2COMPASSI D’ORO
MILAN&
NYC&

Frontiers Conferences / co-Founder
TOK.TV / VP Product
JOINPAD / President
SRLABS / Partner
WideTAG / co-Founder
Kallideas / R&D LAB Director
RAZORFISH Healthware / UX Principal
Main
Side
Past WebEgg / UX Director
AltoProﬁlo / co-Founder

TOK.TV / VP Product
JOINPAD / President
SRLABS / Partner
Main
Side
Inspirational Events
Second Screen
AR/VR
Eye-Tracking
iHealth
Internet of Things
Virtual Assistants
SW as Design
The UX company

TOK.TV / VP Product
JOINPAD / President
SRLABS / Partner
Main
Side
A 25y long trip into the near future
Second Screen
AR/VR
Eye-Tracking
iHealth
Internet of Things
Virtual Assistants
SW as Design
The UX company

TOK.TV / VP Product
JOINPAD / President
SRLABS / Partner
Main
Side
Second Screen
AR/VR
Eye-Tracking
iHealth
Internet of Things
Virtual Assistants
SW as Design
The UX company
Everything you can imagine, is real

Which stories I should share today?

Eye-Tracking
Internet of Things
Virtual Assistants
Which stories I should share today?

Doug Engelbart
Douglas Carl Engelbart (January 30, 1925 – July 2, 2013) was an American engineer and inventor, and an early computer and Internet pioneer. He is
best known for his work on the challenges of human–computer interaction, particularly while at his Augmentation Research Center Lab in SRI International,
resulting in the invention of the computer mouse, and the development of hypertext, networked computers, and
precursors to graphical user interfaces. These were demonstrated at The Mother of All Demos in 1968. Engelbart's Law, the observation
that the intrinsic rate of human performance is exponential, is named after him. (Wikipedia)

From XY pointer to the Xerox Parc
What else?

Prototyping a new generation of medical devices
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtvpUQykqWA

Neal Stephenson
Snow Crash was published way back in ancient 1992 and laid out many of the attributes of today's online life, including the Metaverse, a virtual
place where people meet, do business and play, presenting themselves as avatars. If you've ever played wildly popular multiplayer online
games like World of Warcraft, or visited the virtual communities of Second Life, you can get a chill thinking about what he saw back before the
popularization of the World Wide Web." (io9)
Isaac Asimov / Philip K. Dick

Virtual is not an opposite to REAL

Leandro Agrò | Gmail, Twitter, Skype: leeander
2. Virtual Assistants
& Second Life

Virtual is Real FRONTIERS
CONFERENCES

…costruirsi un mondo prims per prims

Che senso hanno le strade in
un luogo dove tutti possono
volare? Ed un ponte?  
 
Servono ad andare da un sito
all’altro, passeggiando.
 
Il carattere di luogo consente
a questa internet parallela di
trasmettere ai propri utenti
delle esperienze molto
diverse dal web.  
Pensate ai tradizionali (!) siti
web. Per passare da un sito
all’altro si attraversa un
conﬁne. Un momento di
bianco.
SL è tutto questo, con in più la
possibilità andare da un “sito”
all’altro passeggiando! E se è
vero che il “viaggio” non è la
destinazione, ma quello che
c’è in mezzo… allora si
comincia a comprendere
l’enorme potenziale di SL.
 
The journey, not the destination

FRONTIERS
CONFERENCES
Friendship

“Ho visto caschi che pesavano quattro chili
con risoluzione 200×200 e madri disperate
che portavano figli malati al Santuario della
Realtà Virtuale dopo aver visto Il Tagliaerbe”
John Maeda
Learnings

Simulation to
support people
REAL LEARNING
http://www.secondlearning.it/progetto-itbridge-
esperienze-di-italiano-l2-in-second-life/
Events

Decoder Island | Award
Art & Awards

Small world might be comfortable places
Islands are extended interfaces

Where is the link between intelligence and simulation?

2006
(before phones were smart)

Embodiment… where pixel and atoms crashes

This is Claudia -and- she is Real

“Research is the transformation of money into
knowledge. Innovation is the transformation
of knowledge into money.” Geoffrey Nicholson, 3M

http://www.foreveridentity.com

Kevin Kelly
Kevin Kelly (born August 14, 1952) is the founding executive editor of Wired magazine, and a former editor/publisher of the Whole
Earth Review.  
“This provocative book introduces a brand-new view of technology. It suggests that technology as a whole is not just a jumble of wires
and metal but a living, evolving organism that has its own unconscious needs and tendencies.”

This is an evolutionary moment for
the Internet!
In fact…

Even if the Internet appears ubiquitous, still the number of
connected objects or devices is vastly inferior to those which
are not connected. 
 
The coming revolution will raise from the necessity of
substituting everyday objects with connected ones, making
these more intelligent and aware.
This is the
Internet of Things

HUMANS
OBJECTS
2003 2010 2015 2020
IN 2008 THE NUMBER OF
CONNECTED OBJECTS HAS
EXCEEDED THAT OF HUMANS
In Q1/12 there were more iPhone sold on planet Earth than babies born.

100 'things' are coming online
every second.
50 Billion connected objects await us on the
threshold of 2020, and many of these will
necessarily be "autonomous"

Smart objects are natural born
story tellers

Crazy Years
http://vimeo.com/9016774
http://vimeo.com/7112182
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDy10OtjNt8

Social norms has a
strong inﬂuence on
personal behavior and
happiness.
Global change is only
possible when people are
involved.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofm7ZqnB-eg

Design it is not -anymore- about
shape. Design is about behavior

Behaviors (not just style)
iPod+iTunes

Design
Laws for
Makers
Even asocial objects, dream of Clouds

Every object must
know STORIES
the History of its past (how it is
made, where it was produced,
how it is used) and its future (as
it is disassembled, valued in its
parts, recycled, disposed of).

Every object must
be SENTIENT
Every object should know
something about the world
around it through sensors, or at
least know when and where it is
used.

Every object must be able to
communicate and share its
status across social networks
used by humans,
"participating" in their social
relationships.
Every object
must be SOCIAL

Every Tool, service, business that jump in the
digital technology, start to follow Moore’s Law:
Acceleration change everything.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9wFXHYJgdo Peter Diamandis

Retail Store
Online store
ProfessionalKOL
Product stories
Specs
Advertising
Social Sphere
Fan Group
Package
Sales Tools
B2C Help
B2B supportBakery
Baker
spoon
Recipe
Grocery (ingredients)
Package
Advertising
Fan Group
Social Sphere
Touchpoints multiplication
NON DIGITAL vs DIGITAL GOOD

Technology
Consumerization
Emerging Experience

Observing NEST from a UX perspective
What really change with NEST? Why is perceived so well?
Customers are not buying an home automation system:
they are just buying another iPod.

Reinvent thermostats: an investor point of view…
Yes, we see the problem but is a crowded ugly niche, and doesn’t scale as a billion dollar business

“Ok, just think about it like another iPod”
This is a system in the user mind.
Like iPod/iTunes.
This is a system in the user mind.
Like something that only a technician might handle
and that any user will never never never understand.

“This object is a desirable and easy like an iPod, but always connected over the internet.
We will be the first to take a permanent place inside home, and we will grow through data and services”.
No hidden parts or buttons
Clear STATUS
Predictive Behavior
No programming needed
Human presence awareness
Multiple touchpoints
Touch based UI: EASY and MODERN
Trustable Aesthetic

Clear STATUS
Predictive Behavior
Touch based UI
Trustable Aesthetic
Autonomous thinking
Cloud / Service layer
UI quick aging*
Data
Business Logic
Interface

Clear STATUS
Predictive Behavior
Touch based UI
Trustable Aesthetic
Autonomous thinking
Cloud / Service layer
UI quick aging*
Data
Business Logic
Interface
“NEST solve a real and well perceived problem, while is desirable like an iPod, so
people will buy it independently from usual home automation channels.”

A brand new aesthetic of TRUST
Internet is NOT an extension of “your” home automation
device/system. Internet is about PEOPLE and TRUST.
The main goal is to shift home automation tools from
isolated-passive machines to a network of proactive,
collaborative, sharable equipment.

•  Get users data in order to:
•  Save end user’s money
•  Facilitate peak handling for energy companies
•  Providing valuable user’s data to third parties
Nest business Model
•  Sell hardware
•  Value added services (NA)

Bruce Sterling
Writer, Futurist, Michael Bruce Sterling (born April 14, 1954) is an American science fiction author who is best known for his novels and his work on the
Mirrorshades anthology. Sterling, along with William Gibson, Rudy Rucker, John Shirley, Lewis Shiner, and Pat Cadigan, is one of the founders of the
cyberpunk movement in science fiction. Nickname "Chairman Bruce.” Spime is a neologism for a futuristic object, characteristic to the Internet of Things,[1] that
can be tracked through space and time throughout its lifetime.[2] They are essentially virtual master objects that can, at various times, have physical
incarnations of itself.[1][3] An object can be considered a spime when all of its essential information is stored in the cloud.[4] Bruce Sterling sees spimes as
coming through the convergence of six emerging technologies, related to both the manufacturing process for consumer goods, and through identification and
location technologies.

Near Future according… Me :)

Less Objects
than Humans
Past
Present
Future
Much more
Objects than
Humans
“Objects”
indistinguible
than Humans.
Most of the Objects are
isolated / Stand Alone
Most of the Objects stay very
close to Humans / Proximity
Most of the Objects lives
with humans 
Wearable  
Ambient
ATOMS ONLY
PASSIVE
REACTIVE
PRO-ACTIVE
ATOMS ONLY
HUMANS OBJECTS

Less Objects
than Humans
Past
Present
Future
Much more
Objects than
Humans
“Objects”
indistinguible
than Humans.
This room represent the initial space between mere TOOLS and HUMANS.
At the very beginning, tools were few, weak, isolated, not representative,
casual, while humans -since the early stage of the existents- were social.
with humans 
Wearable  
Ambient
CO-EVOLUTION
IN LIFE ITERATION AND INFLUENCE
GENERATIONAL LEARNING
ATOMS ONLY
PASSIVE
REACTIVE
PRO-ACTIVE
Consumer Age
TBD Age
Industrial Age
and before
ATOMS ONLY
HUMANS OBJECTS

Less Objects
than Humans
Past
Present
Future
Much more
Objects than
Humans
“Objects”
indistinguible
than Humans.
with humans 
Wearable  
Ambient
CO-EVOLUTION
TENS OF BILLIONS
ATOMS ONLY
BILLIONS
Time 
Speed of digitalization  
Sharing / Speed of “Trust”  
Autonomous Awareness  
Population
PASSIVE
REACTIVE
PRO-ACTIVE
NOW
Consumer Age
TBD Age
Industrial Age
and before
ATOMS ONLY
HUMANS OBJECTS

Less Objects
than Humans
Past
Present
Future
Much more
Objects than
Humans
“Objects”
indistinguible
than Humans.
with humans 
Wearable  
Ambient
CO-EVOLUTION
MOSTLY BITES
TENS OF BILLIONS
ATOMS ONLY
BILLIONS
Time 
Speed of digitalization  
Sharing / Speed of “Trust”  
Autonomous Awareness  
Population
PASSIVE
REACTIVE
PRO-ACTIVE
NOW
Consumer Age
TBD Age
Industrial Age
and before
Deep hybridization between
humans and technologies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PMlDidyG_I
ATOMS ONLY
HUMANS OBJECTS
Neo-Animism

Simulation in VR is often showed as a ﬁrst
person view of the world. 
 
TODAY this is true also outside the pure digital
environment.

Oculus: welcome (back) to Virtual Reality

The Machine to be another 
TRADING BODIES, SEXES WITH
OCULUS RIFT 
http://animalnewyork.com/2014/trading-bodies-sexes-
oculus-rift/

The world as ultimate algorithms (Terraforming)

The world as ultimate algorithms Kevin Slavin (TED)
Will WrightThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy / Douglas Adams

The single, most relevant, durable,
challenge that I found…

It’s all about TIME
Stewart Brand
Stewart Brand (born December 14, 1938) is an American writer, best
known as editor of the Whole Earth Catalog. He founded a number of
organizations, including The WELL, the Global Business Network, and
the Long Now Foundation.

Recap… 
Take care of time as a tool and an issue
Remember than before than any USABILITY /
UX / ETC, the ﬁrst barrier to climb is CULTURAL
and SOCIAL ACCEPTABILITY.
Design it is not about MAKING NEW JUNK that stay cool for a season.
In this age, Design is about helping people, companies, communities to
create meaningful objects, systems, services, solutions that take care of
all us, as humanity. In this sense, be aware about the need to create
emotionally durable smart objects.
Humans STAYS.
The fast forward innovation is the one that design SMART objects that
STAYS aka evolves.

Gmail, Skype, Twitter, Flickr: @leeander
Thank you!
Design isn't just about shapes or pixels anymore.
Design is the process that shapes product
behaviors, communities, companies and -in the
end- builds new worlds”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEsbA8EBbos

A Design Journey with IoT Pioneer Leandro Agrò

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