At the intersection of learning, play, and information, lies the practice area that is “Design for Understanding”. From the intricate complexities of information design for Big Data, to the mundane, but important task of creating a mobile phone bill that can be decoded by consumers, to the creation of new forms of education in the digital age, our guest Stephen Anderson, and Digital Life co-host Erik Dahl explore the topic that can only grow in prominence as we continue to struggle to understand the information age.

In this episode of the Digital Life , we explore the topic “Making things people want, Not making people want things” — inspired by a blog post by Phillip Hunter, a designer for Microsoft, who joins us for Five Questions. Are people today looking for “a way to reconnect with their values: to ground how they can, will, and should live in the world,” as John Maeda suggests, in a recent article? Or, as Phillip postulates, is this really not such a new thing after all? Have people have always been looking for this manifestation of values? In this podcast episode, we discuss design for values and investigate whether or not there is indeed a new shift toward this way of thinking.

In this, our 50th episode of the Digital Life podcast, we discuss the coming revolution of the Internet of Things, the perils and possibilities of current products on the market, and the interaction design and prototyping opportunities for new kinds of product design processes.

The IxDA’s sixth annual conference, Interaction13, held in Toronto, Canada, was organized around the theme “Social Innovation with Impact”, celebrating 10 years of the Interaction Design Association. In this episode of The Digital Life, we conduct a roundtable discussion with the Chair of Interaction13 and the Chair of the upcoming Interaction14. We explore the purposes and outcomes of that conference, and its bold mandate to inspire designers to make an impact, on the social fabric of their communities, organizations, and the whole of society.