Marcel·lí Zuazua, director of our Official Master Degree in Creation and Development of Digital Projects and CEO of Herraiz Soto, has granted an interview for Yorokobu magazine in which he gives some keys for digital designs to fulfill their mission to thrill. We share his interesting reflections:

We must beautify the digital environment

The debate for or against technological change has long lagged behind. New technologies are no longer so new and now, if at all, they face, after acceptance, a relative boredom on the part of some people who, saturated with digital stimuli, try to return to the analog or artisan as much as they can.

Marcel·lí Zuazua, director of the Official Master Degree in Creation and Development of Digital Projects of LCI Barcelona and CEO of Herraiz Soto, does not believe that people are getting tired of the screens, but admits that «we have to learn to use them» to be consistent with the speed of change. «In that change also cover all kinds of countercurrent movements, and not only fit but seem necessary. Every revolution leaves behind valuable aspects, and in the craft there is much of essence of things that we should not lose».

Marcel·lí Zuazua believes that we have already left behind that debate on whether to understand and accept technology. «We have realized that technology has been key to collaborative economics». And it gives examples of platforms highly valued by the users and that have managed to transform markets, such as AirBNB, Pinterest or Skype.

This acceptance was logical, taking into account other historical examples of initial rejections: «When American jazz bands began playing the first electric guitars in the 1920s, they received harsh criticism from many musicians. And nowadays, who do not think you can get excited about a Fender Stratocaster or a Gibson Les Paul?». The teacher thus completes his comparison: «Rock is a great school of how to use technology. Effort, ambition, passion, content, talent, creativity and much focus on how to make an audience thrill and less on how much we are going to sell».

So, accepted the multi-screen world we are in, we can only get digital designs to fulfill their role of emotion. Here are some keys to getting it:

- The tools

In the hand of the designers is that the technological tools transmit ideas of value and provoke sensations instead of being a mere showcase of its own possibilities. According to Zuazua, designers have to be aware that they are that, tools. «They are an instrument to get what you are looking for. Our goal is not to demonstrate the power of tools, but rather to use them to explain, convey and excite».

The popularization and cheapening of tools is not a problem for professional designers: «Competition is one of the great engines of evolution. The more culture and knowledge we have of the design, the more demand we will demand. Welcome the tools that make the average quality of what we do as users encourage the professionals to continue to open new windows. That will help us embellish the digital environment».

- Talent and work

He is convinced that, although tools have a multiplier effect, «the basis of good design is still in talent, which is innate, but must be trained, polished and worked». This sum of talent and work, aided by the appropriate tools, will be what makes the designers able to convey.

- Interaction with the user

For Marcel·lí Zuazua, the design must be in perfect harmony with the use. «Any communication application or action is designed to trigger or establish an interaction. We do not expect the user to be contemplative. We will be able to add that layer of emotion if we are able to speak in the same language».

Hence professional profiles such as the user experience designer (UX) are demanded, who seek that the product, the website, is not seen as a machine but as a person who wants to interact and interact with us. Thinking like a UX designer involves having knowledge of the emotional relationship that users have with the product.

To conclude, the teacher adds one more role that designers must have: preserving the beauty of the digital environment as well as the architects assume their responsibility in the care of the cities. «This environment has been dominated to date by engineers. The graphic part was not his top priority. The challenge is exciting: to better understand the technology to add a layer of skin».