(Illustrated above) An architect recognizes many of the user interface conventions of current architectural software in her new building modeling application. Although the new tool is substantially different, it has elements that somehow look similar to the latest versions of other tools she has used, and she feels that these stylistic cues help her to “know where to go”.

A financial trader recalls how his firm’s trading application has gone through several different user interfaces over the years, with each iteration reflecting visual “best practices” of the times. He is somewhat of a gadget connoisseur, and he likes using tools that feel up to date.

A scientist is used to working with applications that do not look very current, even when they are newly released. Her new analysis application is an exception, and she is surprised by how much she enjoys its emphasis on modern “look and feel”.

What do targeted individuals think about the aesthetics of the onscreen tools that they currently use?

What contemporary design standards are they familiar with in the context of their day to day work? In their use of personal technology, outside of their working lives?

What larger stylistic trends in application design might your team map and make predictions around?

What types of emotional connections between user and brand are central to your design strategy and application concepts?

Which contemporary aesthetic approaches in interaction and visual design could promote these types of connections and attributions?

Which contemporary approaches might targeted knowledge workers perceive as being appropriate and appealing for their own day to day visual environments? How might they identify with certain aesthetic directions in the context of their working lives?

Which approaches might be too unproven, inefficient, or edgy for your application concepts, given that your team is striving to create a highly functional tool for thinking work?

How might certain interactions with relatively “known” onscreen aesthetics promote emotional responses that are conducive to attentive, focused thinking?

How might your team’s choices about contemporary interaction and visual design aesthetics play out across your sketched application frameworks, information representations, and functionality concepts?

Do you have enough information to usefully answer these and other envisioning questions? What additional research, problem space models, and design concepting could valuably inform your team’s application envisioning efforts?