Invisible Interfaces at SXSW 2020
The Forrest Four-Cast: February 16, 2020
The interface of the future is no interface at all. You’ll find numerous sessions on this ongoing trend at the 2020 SXSW Conference, particularly in the Design Track (March 16–20) as well as the Fantastic Future track (March 16–21). Ten of our favorite panels and presentations that cover the post-screen user experience of tomorrow are as follows.
Change is Coming: UX Design for Next-Gen Game Devices (March 16): With the next generation of gamers being more connected than ever before, we are entering a world of being ‘always present’ where digital experiences have become part of our ‘virtual identity’. This panel brings together top UX design experts to tackle the greatest challenges and changes for the new wave of gamers.
Designing AI Products and Services (March 19): Designers don’t know what AI can do for UX. Almost all descriptions of AI describe how it works, not what it can do.This session will train UX designers to recognize opportunities to use AI. It will discuss AI’s capabilities, design patterns, and new design methods.
Designing Across Senses: Multimodal Product Design (March 16): Led by best-selling tech author Christine Park, this session examines different kinds of interface modes, the different kinds of usability they create for people, and how to blend them together into cohesive product experiences.
Designing for a World Beyond Screens (March 17): Designers are no longer expected to design for just the desktop and mobile, but also experiences beyond the screen. They will be challenged with creating a seamless experience from an iPhone to a television or an Alexa to a Microsoft Hololens. In this session, learn about the latest immersive digital experiences.
The Invisible Interface (March 20): Neurable CEO Ramses Alcaide shows how technology will become increasingly more invisible to the point where it will ultimately become part of us in a mission to achieve a limitless future.
Mirrorworlds: Making The Physical World Clickable (March 18): In the next ten years, the so-called mirrorworld (a digital copy of the real world) could become the most valuable asset in computing. This panel of experts in the field of computer vision share their insights into these mirrorworlds, and their critical role in turning our physical world into a visual, clickable web.
Novel Multimodal Interfaces for XR (March 17): New interactive and XR technologies are incorporating immersive user interfaces that leverage gesture and voice recognition in addition to existing controller inputs. However, the state-of-the-art interfaces are quite rudimentary and not widely accessible for the general consumer.
Seeing is Believing (March 19): Discover the limitations of the fixed optical set-up in today’s headsets — as well as the benefits that can be achieved by introducing variable power optics that stimulate our eyes to respond and focus as they do in the real world.
UX Beyond the Screen: Designing for AR/VR (March 18): Augmented and virtual reality are rapidly developing technologies that have the potential to transform the way we work and live. Many companies are starting to invest in AR/VR and asking their designers to explore the possibilities.
Voice User Interface Meet Up (March 18): We are in an age where voice user interface is ubiquitous and becoming increasingly more a part of our everyday lives. Join this mastermind meet up as we discuss what a VUI is and how it exists in the current marketplace, how it can (and will) be improved in the short-term and long-term, and what kind of potential it holds for the future.
Browse all the content at the 2020 SXSW Conference by visiting the interface we know as the online schedule. Use the search bar at the top right corner to drill down on the panels and presentations you are most passionate about.
Hugh Forrest serves as Chief Programming Officer at SXSW, the world’s most unique gathering of creative professionals. He also tries to write at least four paragraphs per day on Medium. These posts often cover tech-related trends; other times they focus on books, pop culture, sports and other current events.
