我還記得瑞典設計師兼企業(yè)家伊夫·貝哈爾第一次向我展示August智能鎖的情景。那是多年前，這款產品還沒有正式向全球發(fā)布。新產品借助經過驗證的移動設備和Wi-Fi連接的電子裝置，替代傳統的金屬鑰匙和機械鎖組合。當時貝哈爾去曼哈頓中城大樓里我的辦公室拜訪，我得以先睹為快。他拿出智能手機演示智能鎖的功能，通過數字形式授權我進入他在加州的海灘別墅，非常輕松，然后手指輕輕一按又撤銷了權限。

貝哈爾的這款產品非常出色。如今我住在距太平洋不遠的海濱，真能用上他的授權了（伊夫，我想去沖浪了?。?。但伊夫自那次拜訪以后一直忙于工作。6月13日，他出席了在舊金山現代藝術博物館舉行的《財富》國際設計頭腦風暴晚宴，向大家解釋他的設計理念如何體現在項目中。

貝哈爾認為，設計應該以人性、人工智能（AI）、設計、體驗和速度為本。他設計的看護嬰兒機器人Snoo是一款運用AI技術的搖籃床，可以照看新生兒，安撫吵鬧的孩子，讓父母晚上能睡個好覺。Snoo和電影里的類人機器人很不一樣，讓之前聲稱永遠不會把孩子交給機器人的父母刮目相看。貝哈爾向設計和時尚雜志《Wallpaper》的總編托尼·錢伯斯透露：“我喜歡這種貓鼠游戲。作為設計師，我們想打破一些好萊塢傳遞的反烏托邦觀念。”

和Snoo相對，順應老年人需要設計的產品是Elli-Q，主要幫助老年人和外界聯系。貝爾哈說：“如果說AI真能提供什么服務，還是在醫(yī)療保健領域，即老年人和嬰孩，正好是人生兩端?！焙腿藗冎邦A期的不同，有自理能力的人們其實不怎么用得上AI。

上世紀90年代貝哈爾剛剛搬到舊金山灣區(qū)，當時微軟還是科技業(yè)的霸主，蘋果公司還在困境中掙扎?！爱敃r沒什么人認為重視設計可以成功?！彼貞浀馈５蝿莺芸炀妥兞?。設計師現在是董事會、產品和投資者會議的關鍵環(huán)節(jié)。他指出：“產品如果失敗，往往不是技術問題，而是設計不過關?！币虼藢ζ髽I(yè)來說，設計具有了戰(zhàn)略意義。

看看美容行業(yè)國際知名品牌歐萊雅，雖然已擁有數以百萬的客戶，但仍表現得像一家初創(chuàng)公司，并沒有死守傳統品牌機械地推出產品。貝哈爾曾和歐萊雅合作，設計一系列紋身貼，用智能手機掃描以后，可以提示有沒有接受過量太陽照射。如果陽光太強烈，就該用防曬產品了，順便推銷一下歐萊雅的相關產品。

貝哈爾在結束晚宴的活動時表示，要從業(yè)務最高層就重視設計還有很多工作要做。他說，并不是所有地方都像灣區(qū)一樣重視設計。很多公司都錯失了機會，尤其在技術公司?！澳膫€行業(yè)準入門檻低，還能化腐朽為神奇？設計師?！彼硎?。確實讓人難以反駁。（財富中文網）

譯者：Pessy

審稿：夏林

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I remember when Yves Béhar first showed me the August smart lock. It was years ago, before the product—which replaces the conventional combination of a metal key and mechanical tumbler with an authenticated mobile device and WiFi-connected electronic unit—was announced to the world. The designer dropped by my office at the Time & Life Building in Midtown Manhattan to give me a sneak peek. He demonstrated its utility by using his smartphone to digitally grant me access to his California beach house, right then and there. With a tap of his finger, he revoked it.

Good thing he did. Today I live a short walk from the Pacific Ocean and could actually take him up on the offer. (Surf’s up, Yves!) But Béhar has been rather busy in the years since that visit, and he appeared at a Fortune Brainstorm Design dinner at San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art on June 13 to highlight how some of his projects demonstrate the kind of design he hopes to see in the world.

We need design that is driven by humans, artificial intelligence, design, experience, and speed, he argued. His Snoo, “a robot that takes care of your baby,” is an AI-equipped bassinet that coddles and calms an agitated newborn so a parent can get a good night’s sleep. It’s a far cry from the humanoid robots seen on the silver screen and a rebuke to a parent who says that they’d never hand their child to a bot. “I love this game of cat and mouse,” Béhar told Wallpaper’s Tony Chambers. “As a designer, we want to contradict these dystopian Hollywood notions.”

At the other end of the spectrum was Elli-Q, a device meant to cater to the elderly by connecting them with the outside world. “If you really think about who AI is going to serve, it’s healthcare—the aging population, babies, people on both ends of the spectrum,” Béhar said. And not, as we’ve come to expect, able-bodied people in between.

When Béhar first moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1990s, at a time when Microsoft reigned supreme in the tech industry and Apple was faltering, “being design-driven was not seen as a path to success,” he said. That’s changing, and quickly. Designers are a key part of board, product, and investor meetings. “When technology fails, it’s not because of the technology,” he said. “It’s because of the design.” All the better to make it a more strategic part of the organization.

Consider L’Oréal, which despite its millions of customers is trying to act like a startup by not resting on its brand to move product. Béhar worked with the company to design a set of transfer tattoos that can be scanned by a smartphone to reveal whether you’re getting too much sun—an empirical prompt to apply sunscreen, ideally L’Oréal’s.

Béhar closed out the night by arguing that there’s more work to be done to incorporate design into the highest echelons of business. Not every part of the world is as progressive with this as the Bay Area, he said. It’s a missed opportunity, especially when it comes to technology. “Who best to take a low barrier to entry and turn it into something magical and special?” he asked. “Designers.” It was difficult to disagree.