As mentioned previously, the pendulum has swung back towards total design at an escalated pace, due to the confluence of major technological advances--primary among them are:

• The internet
• Fast wireless networks
• Miniaturization of hardware
• Advances in logistics
• The mobile revolution
• Social media
• The Internet of Things
• Advances in artificial intelligence
• Advances in speech and image recognition, and text translation
• Cloud computing

These enabling technologies open the option to maintain a closer, continuous contact with the user. This is a major shift in relationship management that impacts how designers think about their role and about their design.

Suppose you purchase a watch. In the past, your relationship with the brand would have been limited. The company would use various advertising channels to build brand awareness, and sponsor various events to enhance its reputation. You might find the watch you need at a store or online and, generally, your purchase decision would tie to the look and price of the item.

The designer's primary goal was to make the watch attractive at the point of sale, often limited to a split of a second you spent browsing through cases full with other watches. The design was locked in time, figuratively and literally, and so was your experience.

Once you purchased the item, your experience would be limited to occasionally glancing at it for the time, and enjoying its looks.

With smart watches, and for that matter, with more and more products we use, such as vacuum cleaners, home thermostats, lightings, appliances, and other wearables, designers now think about an on-going relationship between the product and the user because:

• The user interface can be customized--a single smart watch can offer its owner tens of different face design options to fit each mood, time of day, or occasion
• The experience is being constantly updated--updates to the software provide enhancements to the user experience, with more customization options and refinements
• Usage data helps personalize the experience for each individual user

For designers, the two important implications of the continuous design approach are:

• Broader design scope: It requires an on-going involvement of designers in evolving their design system.
• Multi-disciplinary collaboration: Any successful collaboration requires that each individual designer brings an open-mind to the process. The flexibility to change, adapt the design to fit with the feedback from and the requirements that are related to the other disciplines.