Transition to a contactless world

Immediately after the pandemic

The use of physical cash has been banned in certain shops, deliveries are now left in front of the door without needing a signature, shared car services are suspected of being contaminated and new physical tools exist to help you interact with the world without touching it with your hands.

Toward a post-COVID-19 society

The physical constraint of minimising contact calls for solutions for a contactless world. This will lead to new interaction design, such as the replacement of buttons with contactless mechanisms and advance automation technologies. In addition, many individuals are sharing their creative ideas and solutions to help avoid everyday contact, such as a 3D-printable keyring that enables “no contact” interaction with switches and screens, and instructions on how to make masks and face shields using items in the home. This has been possible because of changes in the behaviours of companies and individuals. They have freely published and shared design data, enabling people to make things at home and support society by making contact-free interactions possible.

A home for a digital life

In the short to medium term, the danger of contact is driving people towards digital consumption. Digital content provides instant delivery of the product or service purchased, with no consequences for worker safety. Home theatres, virtual reality (VR) and workout equipment will be purchased with the intention of reproducing services and experiences at home.

As new digital lifestyles emerge, the home will start to be redesigned around this. Living rooms will require larger spaces for home theatre, VR equipment, exercise and office space. Kitchens will need more equipment to reproduce restaurant-quality food and good coffee at home. The mailbox will be re-engineered to support automated and fresh food deliveries.

Robot- and autonomous vehicle-friendly city

Contactless will be prioritised for the design of new spaces and services. Buttons will be removed from trains, and surfaces which seem unclean will be avoided. Companies assure hygiene of their products/services by tracking the points of contact and cleaning those areas. Physical interactions will be gradually removed from the city. Installation of new physical objects such as robots and self-driving vehicles in the city will progress.

Its ability to develop an infrastructure that facilitates the introduction of technologies such as robots and self-driving vehicles will become a new index for determining a region’s attractiveness.