“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” Arthur C. Clarke
There are usually 3 stages with every new technology adoption:
STAGE 1
Begins with dreamers, artists, and writers creating concepts and science fiction about what the future might look like. (2001, snow crash, etc)
STAGE 2
Technology adopts some of those ideas and makes them a reality.
STAGE 3
Designers begin using the new tools and technologies created to design new experiences with it.
The Metaverse is now at the beginning of stage 3, and it’s time for designers to start shaping it.
Architects are designing physical spaces, graphic designers for print, motion design emerged with TV, industrial designers are designing everything around us, and when web2.0 emerged not long ago, interactive UI/UX designers started designing it.
We are now in urgent need of web3 and Metaverse designers!
As a graduate of Industrial Design, I know from experience that when technologies are established, they become transparent, and to create great experiences we must design them.
Unfortunately, many Metaverse projects today lack the design, planning, and vision.
When technical solutions are easy to implement, it sometimes feels like the product is ready, and many times the design process is left for last or not considered at all.
Adding value to a product requires concentrating on user experience.
Many companies concentrate on developing a technological solution without a full product experience in mind; how would the user/client interact with it, and what will be the added value?
The truth is, users DON’T CARE about technology; they care about EXPERIENCE, especially in the Metaverse, where experiences will be much more immersive.
The metaverse is not a TECHNICAL platform, it is a HUMAN platform.
If we want to build it right, we must involve Metaverse architects, Metaverse UI/UX designers, Metaverse product designers, Metaverse motion designers, Metaverse sound designers, Metaverse avatar designers, and even jobs that don’t exist yet such as Metaverse historical designers, Metaverse physical/haptics designers, Metaverse culture designers, Metaverse experience designers, and more new jobs that will evolve.
Web 3.0 and the Metaverse will be more unique and user-specific in contrast to any other technology we’ve experienced before.
The Metaverse is the new frontier, we will be reading, watching, interacting, shopping, playing, learning, working, and much more with it, and it will have to be conceptualized and designed more uniquely and specifically as we all have different experiences, histories, and cultures.
It will require generating new experiences that encompass all our previous ones and creating new ones, and we need great designers to make that happen.