The guest lecture was delivered to students enrolled in the course Human-Computer Interaction - Design, part of the Master's Programme in Information Systems. The industry experts were invited by Lecturer and Course director Markus Lahtinen.
Guillaume, who first visited Lund in 2015, has returned several times, drawn by the engagement of students at Lund University. Having studied both applied mechanics and engineering, he has founded several successful and still-active start-ups.
Richard, whose academic journey includes software studies, has a rich background designing visual effects technology and has contributed to numerous Hollywood blockbusters.
Together, Guillaume and Richard co-founded and currently operate the design studio Oh Hi Tomorrow.
Design work explained
Guillaume and Richard shared their insights on the different stages of design work, emphasising starting with a broad vision. They stressed the importance of falling in love with the design problem itself rather than with a specific solution, as this can make the design process much more difficult.
Fall in love with the problem, not with the solution.
The book Interface Design
In May 2024, Guillaume and Richard released the book Interface Design - Creating interactions that drive successful product adoption, along with fellow designer Samuel Iliffe.
The course Human Computer Interaction – Design is the first to use Interface Design as its main course literature. Although the book was published less than a year ago, it is also already used in education at other leading universities like the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London.
Guillaume and Richard noticed that, while there was a lot of theory available for digital interfaces, there was a lack of design theory for physical and hybrid interfaces. This gap in the market inspired the designers to write Interface Design.
The book aims to inspire confidence for designers to make informed design choices and to boost their creativity. It hopes to do this by providing concepts and models as well as practical guidance in real-world scenarios.
As written in the book description: “Beginning with foundational principles, 'Interface Design' delves into practical case studies and explores future trends, particularly the evolving role of AI in design.“
Insights from Markus Lahtinen
Lecturer and Course director Markus Lahtinen has known both Guillaume and Richard for several years. He was quick to add Interface Design to the course literature of the advanced course Human-Computer Interaction - Design.
How did you come to know Guillaume and Richard?
“It was just a random walk in London, around Royal Albert Hall, that I bumped into the Royal College of Art final exhibition for the graduating students. I stepped in, and after scanning several design proposals, I found Guillaume's user-driven immersive movie. It was different, and I knew immediately this was someone I wanted to have visiting Lund University.“
How do you think and hope that their presentation inspired the students on the course?
“Guillaume and Richard are senior designers, working with some of the most admired brands in the world. But every journey needs to start somewhere – even though most of the students at LUSEM subscribe to a business or tech self-image, I hope their talk enables the audience to consider working with the idea of seeing themselves as designers. Many of the greatest business leaders of the world see themselves as designers.“
Why did you choose Interface Design as the main literature for Human-Computer Interaction - Design?
“Most textbooks on design, for higher education, are still anchored in the desktop and mobile interaction paradigm, or I would even say interface paradigm. What Guillaume, Richard and Samuel have done is to create a book that embraces what sometimes refers to as the Internet of Things. This is not a term they use in the book, but slowly and surely, we are moving towards an interaction landscape that goes beyond screen and mobile. For example, I like the notion of self-learning interaction that they introduce. Interaction that goes beyond pre-specified hard-coded rules and instead adjusts and learn user behaviours. In the best of worlds, the system and interaction might be able to even anticipate and positively surprise you – as you are walking about your everyday.“
