Design continuity
Most traditional design domains emerged as masterful hand-crafting of a singular product experience for one patron. They transitioned to pattern-based mass production during the industrial age. Today we are witnessing a return to singularly produced fully customizable experiences. However, these are not hand-made, but rather driven by manufacturing technologies, such as 3D printing, which make it possible to design, produce, and deliver an experience-of-one to millions of people.
Experience design is rooted deeply in personal biases and social norms. In some cultures, tradition and uniformity are valued, and in others, individualism and change are valued. In all cultures, design is influenced by cross-cultural pollination. The influences may spread quickly or take effect slowly, yin any case, it is safe to say that new design ideas do not eliminate traditional design. Instead, designers fold the new into the wider vocabulary of patterns and techniques from which they draw...
