I played basketball in high school. It was something I looked forward to after a long day of classes. I would pack a bag in the morning full of my gear and meet up with my friends at the court as soon as the ending days bell rang. I knew it would always be a stress reliever for me, I knew I would have an awesome game when I wore my Converse Wade 3s, Dwyane Wade’s signature shoe at the time. The same shoes I hit countless game-winners in, the same shoes I knew would help me perform at my best. These shoes felt different from other pairs, they were designed for my style of play, they knew me, and I knew them. Without them, well, I usually just turned around and went home, I wouldn’t even use the other pair I was wearing. Why did I place such importance on a certain object over another? Why did I need these pair of shoes over another similar piece of leather and rubber? Was I crazy, or did I create a relationship with an object based on positive experiences?

Well…

It’s been really great working for another healthcare startup, using technology to help those with medical ailments. In this journey I’m working in the mental healthcare space, providing human-powered services to those who lack it for many a reason. Things like the cleaning of your home, some help picking up groceries or other items, sometimes a simple conversation with another human being. Our product here at Papa is a bridge of sorts, a method of connection in an already connected yet oddly disconnected world (Hence why we exist). Yet, is our product just merely a bridge? Or is it more?

Along my career journey, I’ve had an intuition that product teams tend to think of technology solutions as means to ends. Products as just a way to get something done. You pull it out of your pocket, look at it for a few minutes, then put it away. As builders of these products, we seem to be ok with saying..Hey as long as it works well then we’re good. Hey as long as it looks good then people will enjoy it. I’ve been guilty of thinking this way. But it seems that this ethos has penetrated into the very fabric of design culture. Of signing onto Slack and then grabbing a few tickets to build another feature…punching the clock to build another means to an end for someone else.

With experience working on several different teams now, with sizes ranging from smaller freelance groups to large multi-national corporations, I have begun to ask…where is the soul in technology? Are designers just making things to make things, have the boxes we design in Sketch and Figma began to box our souls too?

Recently I binged several of my favorite Sci-Fi movies and shows… Ready Player One, WestWorld, Interstellar, Ex-Machina, Big hero 6 (Does that count?)…when I paused and started to see a common pattern amongst these films. The AI or technology that was built in these films had a personality. Or what seemed to be a personality or a presence for a machine…

These robotic characters had faces, they had goals (for better and worse), some of them had positive partnerships with human beings, they all had some sort of essence that contributed to the lives of the human characters in the movie. And although these movies were indeed science fiction, I couldn’t help but draw parallels to the apps and website interfaces we create today…

…When creating digital products we focus so much on the “User Persona”, that is, “a fictional representation of your ideal customer”. Who is our persona, someone may state in an intense product meeting. “Wait! We have to check in with our User Persona, will our “fictional representation of our ideal customer” think like this and use the product as such???”.

This is a great practice for designers because it allows us to always consider the mindset and behavior patterns of our users when creating solutions for them. We know our users like the back of our hands, we know their needs and pain points. Which is what allows us to make solutions that are precisely what our user needs. Fantastic.

But what about the product?Have we ever stopped to consider that the product may have a persona?Have we ever stopped to consider that we are building a thing with a personality (content), who is thoughtfully designed to assist human beings like a friend or a trusted partner would? Can the things we interact with begin to have a relationship with us human beings? A relationship built on trust and love, respect, and accountability? Can we build a product persona that has longevity, something that people can identify with an integrate into their lives like a friend?

I’m unsure if you have ever experienced this, but you may have an object either now or in your past, that has had some sort of partnership with you. Whether it was that pair of shoes you know are “lucky and work so well they helped you win the big game” on the basketball court. Or that one paintbrush that works better than the others? Maybe it’s that car that you can always rely on? Perhaps it’s the one rain jacket that you’ve brought on so many camping trips, it’s really been there for you when you need it most. Do certain objects seem to weigh so heavily on our souls that it is HARD to get rid of them? Do they seem to be so meaningful of an object, designed perfectly, integrated into a personal historical moment or experience that you regard this object with the same respect as…gasp…other people…

If you’ve had an experience like this, you may be on to something…In Japanese culture, informed by Shinto beliefs around notions of animism — a soul (“reikon”) lives within all existence and phenomena. Everyday things — from objects to plants to mountains — can be defined as “kami” or deities. Even so, the Japanese don’t really distinguish between animate and inanimate objects. When you fix a desk, for example, you heal its spirit.

I don’t believe this is far off in any way. I’ve seen people say similar things “Yeah those tires on the truck just give it a mean soul”. Or “Those shoes look really cute”, cute, as in the word used to describe a golden retriever puppy, is commonly used to describe an object. The examples are endless, however can digital product designers bring these feelings into machines?

Do we regard the digital products we create as means to ends, or as something with a personality and ability to build a relationship with human beings?Technology is used every minute of every hour, every single day. Are our tools just to be used to get something done? Or could we start with creating product personas that we believe in. Characters with personalities and souls, that have the potential to create relationships with those that use their time to interact and accomplish things in real life.

As A.I. technology progresses, as voice software, and data-driven design personalize your life..we still have the choice to shift our perspective, to slow down and begin actually crafting something with soul and purpose. Something that is more than a means to an end, something that we regard and respect because of the value and emotion it brings into our lives.

Can designers craft product personas that define “Who this product is, and what benefit it brings to humanity” in the same way as nurturing another soul in kindness, love, and respect.

I know I’ve begun to do so. Along the way I’ll document this journey and let you know how weaving personality and soul into digital products goes. I’m just trying to give the same experience to someone else, the same way my basketball shoes made me feel. Alive, present, confident. Those memories lasted…

For now meet one of the products I’ve built.

References:
https://www.joyokanji.com/status-updates/spirit-thing
https://theconversation.com/in-japan-supernatural-beliefs-connect-the-spiritual-realm-with-the-earthly-objects-around-us-125726