#36 | Dan Saffer | Driving product strategy and interaction design

“How do we take things that are very inhuman by nature and make them more human. Tweak algorithms to make them seem more human, more interesting, more weird.” - Dan on designing with AI and robotics.

In episode #36 we talk with Dan Saffer, Product Design Leader and Author of 4 influential design books.

He gained work experience as a Senior Staff Designer at Twitter, Creative Director at Jawbone, Smart Design and AdaptivePath.

He also gained experience leading larger product initiatives as VP of Product at Mayfield Robotics.

As an accomplished author; his insights and approach to design expressed in four books that he has written.

His latest book, Microinteractions, about the details and intricacies of design, was published in 2013 to critical acclaim.

With Dan, we talked about the intersection and differences of digital Product Strategy and Product Design based on his learnings being responsible for the product but also for design efforts.

We also touch on how to design for robotics and how different product verticals might evolve considering challenges in the interaction design of these products and engineering challenges.

Dan highlights how designing with AI systems changes the design process and how he incorporates this in FTU and Onboarding aspects at his more recent work experience at Twitter.

If you want to learn more about Dan or buy his books head here: https://www.odannyboy.com/

Thanks to Dan for the great time and IXDA and Interaction 20 for the support.

About Interaction 20:

Interaction 20 is the annual Interaction Design conference organized by IxDA - the largest community dedicated to interaction design - and in 2020 hosted by the IxDA Milan & Turin local group. Interaction Week 2020 brought together the brightest minds in design, as well as science, philosophy, psychology and business.

Interaction 2021 will happen fully online. You can get more details here: https://interaction21.ixda.org