About
Future Perfect is about the collision of people, society and technology, drawing on issues related to the design research that I conduct on behalf of my employer - Nokia.
Profile page on Nokia dot com, this interview covers design research methods.
I currently conduct research for Nokia Design and split my time between running user studies and developing new applications, services and products that, if I do my job right, you'll using 3 to 15 years from now. Prior to this role I worked as Principal Researcher in the Nokia Research Center, Tokyo. I specialize in taking teams of concept/industrial designers, psychologists, usability experts, sociologists, and ethnographers into the field and, 
after a fair bit of work, getting them home safely. The tough part of the job is in using the data to inform, inspire and affect how my colleagues think and what they do, and in turning research into core intellectual property that underpins the future business. I live and work from Tokyo, my home since 2000.
The material that you see on this site is what I do in my spare time - the stuff that inspires or challenges me, helps me understand how the future might turn out. To avoid any confusion regarding the photos that are posted here - this site contains both my personal material and also draws on my published research, a comprehensive list of which can be found on Nokia dot com site here. (The studies generate huge volumes of data, and the externally published photos are carefully filtered and limited to photos that directly explain and communicate the research findings. We don't take participant's privacy lightly). Because I like my job I won't ever cover confidential work stuff, so don't expect to find glimpses of new products designs, or a heads-up on cool new stuff. I tend to buy and try a lot of new technology to figure out the user experience but if you see it posted here it doesn't reflect my employer's interest in the company that makes the product, merely my own. The content and opinions on Future Perfect are my own and not my employer's.
I haven't published too much formal research (yet) though given the choice between understanding the lives of interesting people in different parts of the world in and trying shoe-horn 'life' into lifeless journal submission formats do you blame me? Doubtless this will change, or maybe the publishing formats will change? Let's see...
Pushing technologies on society without thinking through their consequences is at least naive, at worst dangerous, though typically it, and IMHO the people that do it are just boring. Future perfect is a pause for reflection in our planet's seemingly headlong rush to churn out more, faster, smaller and cheaper.
Somewhere along the way we get to shape what the future looks like.
Jan
Email: info at janchipchase dot com