By: Rob Girling

With COVID-19 extending school closures across most of the U.S., many parents and students are facing the prospect of an entirely virtual school year come fall. But what will students experience from behind the glow of a computer screen? Can digital learning be as effective and engaging as in-person education?

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” — Confucius

We know interactivity is key to learning, understanding, and growth. People derive meaning through active engagement with the world, such as experiments or real-world problem-solving. Yet, the vast majority of learning software follows a passive view of education: the learner is an empty vessel to be filled…

By: Jeff Turkelson

A design solution is only as strong as the research that informs it. Across the wide variety of industries and topics of inquiry we’ve pursued at Artefact, each research undertaking is important in its own way. Despite different approaches and methods, when we go into the field as designers, there are three principles we follow to get the most out of our research:

• Analyze in parallel: Analyze findings as we go to jumpstart analysis after research and be efficient with our time.
• Expose and collaborate: Give client partners an opportunity to react to what we’re hearing and…

By: John Rousseau

While the future is always unknown, the pandemic has amplified our awareness of uncertainty, implicating many facets of life that were once thought of as enduring.

This series explores this altered landscape through the lens of critical uncertainties and narrative sketches of potential 10-year futures. These scenarios are not predictions — they illustrate a range of plausible outcomes that may help challenge prevailing assumptions, spark discussion, and inform more resilient strategies.

The strategic question

In light of the current pandemic, how might the future of mobility evolve in the US by 2030? …

By: Rob Girling

As we contemplate life at home away from others and communal events, we are all seeking ways to maintain a sense of community and connectedness. For many, fitness is a ritual that is not only essential to physical well-being but an important way to connect with and build community.

One business uniquely positioned to thrive in the age of isolation is connected fitness company Peloton. Well before the COVID-19 pandemic, Peloton was establishing itself as a new kind of leader, building a community of shared virtual suffering far from the sweat and germs of the local gym…

By: Rob Girling

“Important.” “Landmark.” “Genuine and meaningful.” This is just some of the praise received by the most lauded and brilliantly designed hardware device that you may have never heard of.

In the design community, there is almost unanimous consensus that Microsoft’s $99 Xbox Adaptive Controller is one of the best-designed industrial products of our time, with the potential to inspire and impact the future of how humans interact with physical products. Perhaps you’re searching the Internet right now for an image of this wonderous design — I will confess part of me hopes you are disappointed when you…

By: Jeff Turkelson

Last year, a few colleagues at Artefact implored me to run a game of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) for them, as none of them had played before. Though I played for years in college, I had never facilitated a game and was excited to give it a shot. …

By: Sheryl Cababa

It’s not every day that you get to meet an icon. I had the opportunity to speak with a personal hero of mine last week, indomitable tech journalist Kara Swisher, who was in town giving a talk Artefact organized in partnership with Seattle Arts and Lectures. As witty and wry as ever, her conversation revolved around the pertinent themes of technology usage, industry regulation, and some pointed commentary on Jack Dorsey’s beard.

In reflecting on Kara’s lecture and recent high-profile criticism of the tech industry, however, I got to thinking about the current all-or-nothing approach to technology…

By: Eric Croskey

Last summer, in a dark auditorium somewhere around Minneapolis, EYEO hosted a series of lightning round presentations. Among the presenters that night was Claire Kearney-Volpe, a doctoral candidate and research fellow for the Ability Project at NYU. At the outset of her talk, she presented a simple form for the audience to fill out. That form had one not-so-subtle transformation: it was all set in Wingdings, a font designed as a series of glyphs that rendered the form incomprehensible.

Why Wingdings? Oftentimes, the simplest tasks — whether it’s entering a building or browsing the web — can…