Ling Zhang
- Sep 18, 2023
- 3 min read

Crafting a Winning, Human-Centered Future in Three Steps

Four Types of Digital Age Experiences: Empowering, Rewarding, Tuned-In, and Responsible

In a world increasingly defined by technology, the book, Radically Human: How New Technology is Transforming Business and Our Future, highlights the pivotal role of human-centered design in shaping our experiences. From NASA's zero-g coffee cup to Toyota's commitment to empowering older drivers, it explores how organizations are embracing technology to create four types of radically human experiences for the digital age: empowering, rewarding, tuned-in, and responsible experiences.

The Journey Begins with Replatforming, Reframing, and Reach:

To achieve these transformative experiences, it takes a three-step journey: replatforming, reframing, and reach.

Replatforming involves fully committing to the cloud, harnessing its computational power and flexibility to deliver and enhance experiences at scale. Cloud-edge architectures bridge the gap between computation and user devices, making experiences accessible on smartphones, smart speakers, and smart vehicles.

Reframing, the second step, calls for a mindset shift within organizations. Technology should not merely facilitate efficiency but drive innovation. This shift enables companies to focus on delivering experiences that truly resonate with their customers and employees.

The final step, reach, emphasizes moving beyond traditional business priorities. Exceptional customer and employee experiences become the new focus, leading to innovative value propositions.

Four Types of Radically Human Experiences

Human experience delves into four types of experiences that demonstrate the potential of human-centered, IDEAS (Intelligence, Data, Expertise, Architecture, and Strategy) enabled design:

1. Empowering Experiences: These experiences grant access to activities that were once out of reach. For example, Toyota's Safety Sense technology empowers older individuals to drive safely, enhancing their mobility and quality of life. Similarly, making websites accessible to people with disabilities empowers them to explore and engage with digital content.

2. Rewarding Experiences: Rewarding experiences foster personal growth, collaboration, and fun. Companies like Peloton and Obé Fitness leverage architecture to provide scalable, collaborative experiences that stretch and engage users. These experiences enrich the customer journey and contribute to brand loyalty.

3. Tuned-In Experiences: Tuned-in experiences are engaging and effortless, perfectly attuned to individual needs. For instance, Volvo considers motion sickness in autonomous vehicles, demonstrating the importance of catering to user comfort. In education, data-driven systems offer personalized feedback to students, enhancing their learning experiences.

4. Responsible Experiences: Responsible experiences extend beyond individual benefits to serve the community and the larger world. The Impossible Burger's sustainability ethos, guided by AI-driven innovation, exemplifies this approach. Such experiences resonate with consumers, with many prioritizing purpose alongside traditional customer experience.

Memory Lane’s AI serves as a Solution to Loneliness: Loneliness, a pervasive issue in the modern world, finds a technological solution with AI. Designed to connect older populations with younger generations, this AI-driven system asks personal questions, understands correlations in responses, and creates a memory graph of individuals. By combating loneliness and preserving stories for future generations, it exemplifies a responsible experience.

Technology, when coupled with a human-centered approach, has the power to transform experiences across various industries and areas. Whether it's empowering older individuals, fostering personal growth, creating tuned-in experiences, or promoting responsible practices, the impact of human-centered design is profound. As we navigate the digital age, the convergence of intelligence, data, expertise, architecture, and strategy promises a future rich in experiences that resonate with our most compelling human aspirations and interests.