Part of our mission of liberating people from mediocre experiences means remaining at the forefront of emerging technologies. The world of technology advances quickly, and the trends within it often come and go–some more impactful than others. As technology continues to become smarter, cheaper and more accessible, it’s our motive to explore, vet and test the latest and greatest tech tools to see if and how we can leverage them to create and enhance experiences worldwide.
In the spirit of innovation, let’s talk about some of the technology trends, challenges and opportunities we see on the horizon.
LED TAKES THE LEAD
For one, LCD matrices are starting to look ancient, especially as direct-view LEDs continue to become better and more cost-friendly. There are various new form factors for quality LED displays in any size or shape that can be used for more exciting and unique content displays (think The Sphere in Las Vegas). As these display capabilities continue to blossom, we can expect additional new and evolving technologies to excel alongside them.
ALL THINGS AI
2023 was the year the world was wowed by artificial intelligence’s (AI) power and capabilities. As the technology continues to grow and mature, it’s clear it’s not going anywhere. This ever-evolving technology is revolutionizing industries across the board, enabling machines to create quality content that resembles realistic, sometimes human-generated work.
When anticipating more compelling and practical applications of AI (those beyond ChatGPT, Google Gemini, etc.), education and STEM/STEAM learning come to mind. As an experience design firm, we’re always exploring new and novel ways to help our higher education and cultural clients engage students and young audiences beyond traditional means.
Let’s say we’re creating an activation to help educate students about a historical figure–like the various virtual displays we brought to life in the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum. Typically we would manually collect as much content as possible, then create an application with filters and search tools designed to help navigate that information. Now we have the opportunity to use AI to train a model with that same pool of text, images and videos that allows visitors to interact with the activation in a highly conversational way.
With this approach, guests could simply say, “Tell me about your childhood.” They would then receive a conversational reply accompanied by images or videos to match the question’s context. AI integration can transform these linear and transactional activations into highly realistic, real-time interactions. Using evolving technology such as AI helps create captivating educational experiences that resonate with students and younger audiences who live exclusively in the digital age.
(AR)E HERE TO STAY
Like AI, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) remain at the forefront as they evolve with new opportunities, especially with the recent launch of the Apple Vision Pro. While the form factor of AR and VR remains their biggest hurdle to mass adoption, we will undoubtedly see other forms of wearable technology that are less invasive and cumbersome than a full headset.
Exploring new avenues to elevate the way people experience built environments is at the essence of what we do; therefore, we’re also thinking about integrating these new and existing technologies. There will be opportunities to integrate AR and VR with AI capabilities to make these devices more capable of interpreting and seamlessly responding in a live setting.
OUR PATH FORWARD
So what’s the DI approach when navigating emerging and evolving technologies? Business as usual–sort of. While we’re always on the hunt for the latest and greatest, our approach remains consistent. The DI Tech team operates with intention, ensuring we first explore and examine what’s possible, then work to connect attainable solutions to the problems our clients face. Maintaining usability, approachability and functionality is a top priority when integrating new technologies into public spaces and experiences.
The possibilities with technology are endless and will only continue to grow. We’re excited to remain at the forefront of innovation, leveraging and customizing future technologies to create remarkable experiences that leave audiences captivated and inspired.
