Super cool seeing the reactions of SXSW attendees when they played around with the Kaalo Charm 3D interactive messaging app. Here is a Dell laptop being displayed in an exhibition setting. Users were fascinated by how real it was and could not stop giving us ideas of all the possibilities they saw in this technology. It was very reassuring.
Contact Kaalo if you want to spend less and reach a broader audience by sending 3D interactive AR exhibits in a message.
Primary takeaway from SXSW 2023 – designers will be at the epicenter of the inevitable world of AI and XR. Design is the interaction of humans with the world around us. It is all encompassing and has existed since civilization. The design toolbox changes with context and environment but the essence of design does not change. The essence being – the ability to understand the necessary workflow required and the skill to create an experience that satisfies an intended purpose. SXSW has been a showcase of top of mind technologies and trends. Around 18k attendees and over 350 sessions curated from the global community and spanning the world’s of tech, film, music, and beyond, each of which ignite conversation and collaboration. It’s no secret that AI and XR is going to radically change the way humans live. It’s imminent. A large number of sessions and exhibits arrested to this projection summarizing that the industry is obviously unsure and is making every effort to rapidly align and strategize. The uncertainty of what AI will replace, assist, or completely redefine is very concerning. Content creation, ownership, regulation, security, and consumption are complex areas that will see significant changes. Education, medicine, military and all lifestyle verticals will undergo a revolution. This is going to be a series of posts to actually dig into the details but what is very clear is that the context of our environment is radically changing once again. New workflows, new experiences, new tools, new channels and delivery mechanisms, new consumption styles and expectations – all these define our new context. Humans who are trained to understand this uncertain new context and deliver experiences in them are “designers”. Designers will be more in demand in this new context than ever before. In fact designers will have to do the heavy lifting of teaching the industry and handhold corporations in navigating this unclear path forward. #design#ai#sxsw2023#kaalo
The Kaalo Studio on RM2222 Austin Texas is still in progress. The City of Austin is overwhelmed and understaffed to keep up with the speed of development. Permits are taking forever and Covid did not help at all. Delays are painful but the vision is steadfast – this 5 acre live, work, play space is being pursued without compromising on its ecofriendly, modern and innovative design. #KaaloStudio#LiveWorkPlay#AustinTexas#Design#TechnologyPark#DesignCommunity
How did Kaalo morph into a technology and design company? A classic Industrial Design team from the early 1990s with an open mind to the changing times and complicated client needs. Hardware design was not enough with the world of software taking over. Kaalo embraced software design and development to offer comprehensive solutions to clients. It was the explosion of social media, gaming and the virtual space that changed the face of product experiences and customer expectations. Kaalo got ahead of this macro trend back in 2017 by using Industrial Design techniques to Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality for solutions that served real world business needs. In 2020, when Covid hit, Kaalo’s remote AR based technical support solution was a “must have” for our clients. Now in 2023, Kaalo is recognized as one of the top AR companies offering a wide range of well designed, robust, secure solutions for a variety of industries including Electronics, Housewares, Retail, Health and Education.
Industrial designers focus on all aspects of a product’s development: design, usability and function; an astute designer is always looking for ways to improve the consumer’s interaction with a product. Augmented reality, with its capability of interfacing with our real 3-D world, does just that — it eases our experience. Industrial designers are a natural fit for developing AR interactions that require a deep knowledge of the product as well as the ability to intuit what the user will need to see and hear.
How Digital Content is Changing
Thus far, we have mostly consumed digital content on 2-D screens. When faced with a “How-To,” we refer to instructions on a website, in an app or perhaps as a PDF manual. In those situations, we shift our attention back and forth between the directions and the product we are trying to learn about, set up or fix. Augmented reality exists in a 3-D environment; information is overlaid directly onto the product. Because industrial designers think and design in 3-D, they are a natural fit for creating seamless AR experiences.
Why Industrial Designers are a Natural Fit to Design AR Experiences
A designer’s entire process depends upon knowing how a user will interact with a product and what will make that experience easy and intuitive. Now, designers are out to make a wide range of products more intuitive with augmented reality. They’ll create apps that enable you to fix your own laptop, toaster or car with step-by-step instructions overlayed right onto your device. Creating AR experiences on a physical laptop requires a thorough understanding of the mechanics of the product — how the device opens, how cables and screws are disconnected, etc. A mistake could damage the device, so in creating the AR instructions, a designer’s grasp of the design is critical. When this extensive product knowledge is combined with creative augmented reality and software execution, the results are magical.
Kaalo’s Unique Team of AR Creators
Kaalo is a unique team comprised of industrial designers, mechanical engineers, UI/UX experts, and software developers — all co-creating augmented reality experiences that function seamlessly with millimeter accuracy. Take a look at Kaalo’s profile on DesignRush to see why Fortune 500 companies use Kaalo for AR solutions. Experience it first-hand here.
Kaalo designs products, but we are so much more. At Kaalo, we strive for innovative solutions in product development and business transformation. Those solutions can improve and redefine everyday experiences. And not only do we design innovative products, but we also manufacture some of our own. We invest in transformative technology and operate on a global scale, pushing the boundaries of possibility. We live, work and play design. https://kaalo.com//
Technology has changed our lives at every level, in every corner of the world. In recent times, that ever-evolving tech has altered how we interact with our devices. Homes, offices and public spaces are “SMART.” Product manufacturers and service providers now offer experiences augmented by virtual and mixed reality. Artificial intelligence is fast becoming the standard, and user interfaces are catching up. https://kaalo.com//kaalo-services/
Competitive Advantage by Design Traditional business strategies fall short of today’s highly-competitive, ever-changing landscape. How does a business not only survive, but thrive, in this environment of high customer expectations while contending with advancing technology, fragmented markets, global competition, and cost wars? The answer: intelligent business design strategies. https://kaalo.com//kaalo-services/
Cost-effective innovation is hard work. Well-engineered products not only function better; they offer superior user experience and cost less. Innovation and cost often conflict, and arriving at a design that is optimized on all fronts is hard work. Industrial designers and engineers can butt heads, but that is where the magic happens. https://kaalo.com//kaalo-services/
Poor design drives away customers. Modern consumer expectations are high. We expect instant gratification with a seamless user interface laced with predictive content. Fall short, and you lose the user’s attention. In such an unforgiving environment, how do you design software? Kaalo employs smart, user-research-driven design decisions through an iterative, user-validated design process. And it works. https://kaalo.com//kaalo-services/
