Design and artwork is becoming more and more important in our lives, but do we fully acknowledge it, or do we take it for granted in a lot of cases. We choose phones and computers due to attributes such as interface, user friendliness as well as accessories and packaging. This is all a result of digital evolution. Remember the first cell phones? Not much art or design there. Functionality and efficiency was key back then. Today digital tools are lifestyle necessities.
Nowadays, customisation with art and design is an essential element and even a prerequisite for our everyday lives to be complete, as are many other features that come along with everything digital. Personalisation is one obvious trend connected to the digital society. Every user is their own service designer and we tailor our digital equipment to suit our lifestyles into the smallest detail, interest, need and behaviour. And the trend is here to stay. The phone is just one example. The computer another. They are tools part of our body, tools for survival. We could equate it to love.
This change of behaviour does have an effect on companies’ approach towards co-workers. We do not separate work life and private life when it comes to technique. We choose our tools carefully and companies should be cautious when trying to influence our choices or obstruct our digital lifestyles by forcing a corporate standard on us. It’s as fundamental as not wanting to switch reading glasses between the workplace and our home.
Corporations need to meet the employees where they are – in terms of preferences as well as virtually. Being a company spread out over several continents, we at Hyper Island rely heavily on having a tool that brings us closer to each other. But instead of forcing everyone into a new system we’ve integrated Facebook as our intranet. It works brilliantly. Everyone was already using it so the user rate is extraordinary.
Society is in constant change, that’s for sure. As company leaders we need to understand and embrace change, or we will face a problem attracting tomorrow’s talents. This is not a war worth fighting.
