How might our shortening attention spans be benefitting the way we design? Due to our everyday dependency on mobile devices, we have smoothly transitioned into designing on the go. Photographing any interesting detail, recording thoughts and ideas on the morning commute, even double tapping to show our appreciation of posts on social media all aid in the design process of almost all designers. All these quick instances of information gathering help to massage the cerebral cortex where most of that information is processed. While our attention spans are becoming shorter, eight seconds to be exact, our multitasking skills are increasing significantly. For a graphic designer today who is expected to compose anything from visual content to creating an immersive virtual environment, multitasking is an important skill to process. Being able to switch between tasks and projects in order to explore the design process is a crucial ability enabling personal and project investigation. While a shorter attention span may be unfavorable in academic settings, it may be more appreciated within an environment dedicated to exploration and prototyping.
ATTENTION!…oh wait, a cloud!
