Great UI Can Promote the “Do Everything Ourselves” Economy

Abstract

As user experience designers know, great UI design isn’t just a frill. It isn’t just about aesthetics, and isn’t just about efficiency or convenience. But what designers might not yet appreciate, is that great UI might actually hold the key to solving some of the major social problems of our time – like poverty, inequality, war, and climate change. It might do so through an unusual route – enabling end-users to solve problems themselves that would otherwise require interactions with large industrial organizations. Great UI is now enabling “Do it Yourself” (DIY) culture, from home repair videos, to the Maker movement enabled by 3D printers. What if we could evolve these developments into a “Do Everything Ourselves” (DEO) economy? This could form the foundation of a more sustainable, more equitable economy for the new age of Artificial Intelligence and Personal Manufacturing.