The Office of the Future
Industrial Design, Market Research, User Experience, Storytelling
Context
In the summer of 2015, I took an internship at Argodesign, a prominent User Experience consultancy in Austin, Texas. The internship prompt was to explore emerging technologies and how they might play into "The Office of the Future."
Story
In the era of the open office environment, we find ourselves hiding behind screens. In meetings, during lunch, even at our desks, we are separated by the technology that connects us. The Office Of The Future will change this.
Team
Creative Director, Kevin McDonald
Industrial Design and Photography, Jolee Nebert
User Interface Design, Johnathon Simmons
Meet Peek: Your Portable, Tactile Projector
Peek is an interactive, gesture controlled laser projector. Peek allows you to use any table, wall, or floor as a work surface instead of relying on LCD screens. Equipped with quickly revolving high-definition video camera and projector, Peek allows 360° video conferencing and simultaneous live video streaming.
Peek works great in groups. Syncing Peek create brighter images, and syncing two projectors doubles the work surface area. Designed with a rotating camera and mirror, Peek is able to view 360° to record everyone in a conference room.
Meet Note: Your Interactive Stylus Assistant
Controlling your devices shouldn’t mean burying your face in a screen. Note interprets your actions and adjusts accordingly. Use whichever method of input is easiest for you. Gesture can dim the lights, turn down the music, or change the song. Voice can set reminders or send messages. Oh, and it's a pen too!
Meet Forté: Your Office Receptionist
Small offices often don't have the budget for a dedicated receptionist. But they lament not having the friendly welcome and wide services that a receptionist can provide. That's where Forté comes in. Forté gives you a view of your day, schedules lunch, and arranges carpools. It can reserve conference rooms and facilitate group activities. By using the proximity of Note, Forté can check people into meetings and out of the office for the day.
Meet Solo: Your Get-It-Done Partner
Open offices are the most popular office layout... but they don't work for everyone. Many people find themselves distracted during the day, or looking for shelter when they feel exposed. The constant disruptions are a large reason why many people lament open offices.
Solo gives you the best of both worlds: an open office layout, with a virtual bubble of privacy. When you enter Focus Mode, your Solo projects a ring of blue light around your desk, letting others know you're not up for another game of Super Smash Bros. Stepping out of focus mode allows people to know they can approach you, or what you are working on does not require constant attention.
Meet Anima: The Brains Behind it All
Anima is the controlling system driving The Office of the Future. Able to push massive amounts of data to the cloud, it is the link between each connected device in the Office.
Introducing: The Office of the Future
An immersive web experience was created to showcase the Peek concepts, along with four other technologies I envisioned in The Office of the Future. The concepts were published in a Fastco article by CEO Mark Rolston later that year.
