Renaissance & Movable Type – why does IXD care?

The Renaissance inspired modern interaction design. As a Western European ideological emancipation cultural movement that took place in the 14th and 17th centuries, it was named “Renaissance”. However, it does not mean to reproduce the ancient Roman culture, but emphasizes the human-centered humanistic thought, and impacts the religious confinement of people’s thoughts. In this period of encouraging people to think critically, many outstanding representatives have emerged. One of them is Leonardo da Vinci, who is mainly known as a painter. In fact, in addition to being an artist, he is also an inventor who embodied outstanding creativity in the Renaissance. Da Vinci maintained a strong curiosity about things and was keen to invent some unheard of concepts. Under the combination of thirst for knowledge, wish for exploration, and desire for creativity, he tried to use knowledge in various fields such as anthropology, mechanics, geometry, and so on to design products, such as aircraft. His later inventions include robots, tanks, helicopters, and early machine guns. There is no doubt that Da Vinci’s attitude towards creation is not limited to expressing his values ​​in artistic form. He used the knowledge he learned to design countless products that can change human life. Many of his products are even many years ahead of the time. This coincides with the idea of ​​modern interaction design. As interaction designers, we are not only learning and copying the achievements of our predecessors. We also have a social responsibility: to focus on people and improve the current standard of living. If the product we create is unrealistic or does not give people a better experience, then it cannot be called a successful interaction design work.

Movable type printing is a technology invented by ancient Chinese people through long-term practice. It improves the efficiency of printing and directly reduces the time cost of text dissemination. Such a technological revolution has affected the world. The number of ancient manuscripts was limited and expensive, and it was impossible to spread widely. Therefore, it is often used as religious scriptures or for royal nobles. Since the advent of movable type printing, the dissemination carrier of knowledge-books, has become easier to be produced. This also further promoted the spread of culture. It can be said that the beneficiaries of the invention of movable type printing are human beings all over the world. Its knowledge, as an innovative technology in printing, plays a key role in accelerating world cultural exchanges. As interaction designers, we also need to be vigilant: Will our design bring a butterfly effect, trigger a market change, and even affect the lives of many people? Is this change good? We don’t have to pursue a vigorous and revolutionary benefit to people, but we need to be cautious and not make designs that benefit some people but cause others to suffer losses. Therefore, when designing some innovative products, we also need to understand the system in which our product works, as well as predict and control the negative impact of technological changes on humans.