ep29 | the artisan podcast | Suzan Oslin | Creative Technologist | AR/VR

Suzan Oslin

https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzan-oslin/

concreteoasis.city

 

Suzan is an independent XR creator with a focus on persistent, geo-spatially located AR. She uses immersive technology to build aspirational futures that reflect her own wonder and awe for the beauty of life–at the same time revealing ugly truths that endanger our very existence. Using her mastery of experience design, she crafts interactions intended to engender empathy and motivate positive action. 

 

Katty

Where are you? It's beautiful where you're sitting.

 

Suzan

I’m at the AR House here in Los Angeles, and it's a co-working, co-living space run by Aidan Wolf and Lucas Rizzotto. Every month, they bring in ten new artists, where we live and collaborate together for four weeks. And it's in a beautiful house in the hills of Hollywood. We have a pool and a sauna and we invite people in from the public to be a part of the community and it's just a really amazing place for artists and creators to be inspired, build relationships, and build cool stuff.

 

Katty

What a beautiful idea for collaboration. All AR projects?

 

Suzan

Not necessarily but it's pretty much AR/VR as far as I know. Some artists come in and they're not necessarily developers, they're designers or illustrators, but they're pretty passionate about the AR/VR space, and they'll work usually with one of the devs to build stuff.

 

Katty

Okay, let's step backwards just in case there are some people in the audience who may not be familiar with AR/VR. Can you just give us a quick little rundown of augmented reality/ virtual reality and then we'll start with how you got started in this.

 

Suzan

There's sometimes a lot of confusion about that. Virtual reality is when you're completely immersed within a digital or virtual world, and that's usually through a headset, and there's no relationship to the outside world at all. You're completely in a created and fabricated world. 

Augmented reality is when you are in the real world and your real world is being augmented by digital or virtual objects. So it's a layer over top of the real world, and usually that's done with your phone, or augmented reality glasses. There used to be a distinction of mixed reality. Mixed reality and augmented reality are kind of coming together into one thing and people talk less about mixed reality. I think it pretty much put it all together with augmented reality.

 

Katty

And how does that play into where your career started from, which is in the UX space and what was the trajectory for you and the transition for you from traditional UX into what you're doing now?

 

Suzan

Well, my career actually didn't start in UX. So when you and I met, my UX career was starting. I actually have a background in visual effects and animation and I've worked in the film industry for a number of years, so the 3D world is not a stranger to me. I had been doing UX for about 12 years. 

 

I don't think I wrote a single line of code in that whole time and my background is very much in technical art. To be honest, I was getting a little bit bored with user experience design and wasn't challenged in the way that technology really challenges you. I was in a space where I was looking for my next evolution of my career. That's when I started to see, around 2018, and I started to see a lot of posts on LinkedIn and whatnot about augmented reality and virtual reality. It was more virtual reality at that time. To me, it seems like a no brainer to kind of go back to my roots, but also bring with me, my user experience design and hope to make an impact in terms of a new technology and bring in those concepts of user experience design. So often when a new technology is being created, a lot of the applications and experiences are created by the developers. And I know it makes sense because they're the ones figuring out the technology. So those are the ones that get built first and so I really wanted to have a presence of user experience in this burgeoning industry.

 

Katty

To have both technology background, the design background, and the visual effects background in that space. I imagine the three of them together really play off of each other to help create the alternative universes that we're working on. How does Metaverse play into this?

 

Suzan

There's a lot of debate in the industry about what exactly the Metaverse means. I just try to stay away from it. I think many of us do. I can tell you what the Metaverse means to me. Most of my work now is really in the augmented reality space and specifically in city-scale augmented reality because my vision for the future is where the digital and the physical worlds really come together and are one and that we can have digital content in context. 

 

So that's why I'm really interested in physically located location-based augmented reality. Because it's like being in context, I think is where it's really going to make a lot of meaning and have impact. But I also believe, and I’ve believed for a long time that virtual reality and augmented reality will really come together as just being one spectrum of the other, of the same thing. So I can imagine, being in a space and putting on a pair of glasses and completely removing the light and going into a virtual reality space. There's a lot of, in terms of co-presence, having virtual people in your space, sit down next to a virtual being. Sit down next to you, so there's, that kind of mix of virtual and augmented reality. So, that's my idea and Metaverse is really the bringing together and combining the virtual, digital virtual, and physical worlds. But also having those spaces that are purely virtual and having it all connect and be interoperable and not be separate spaces. You know, similar to how the web is now, you can go anywhere on the web. That's how I see the Metaverse. It's really just an evolution of the web in 3D. In real space 3D in our world, not 3D on the screen, but in our present.

 

Katty

You know where my mind went as you were just explaining that… this is gonna sound maybe strange, but this is the space that I've been in lately because of the book that I wrote, The Butterfly Years, which is my journey through grief. As you were talking about being there, the memory that came out for me was can I have a conversation with my loved ones?

 

Suzan

That have past?

Katty

Yeah. Like they're physically there.

Suzan

In a way, yes. My father passed away shortly after I got into this industry and it was always very sad for me because the technology is there now where we can do a volume capture, a 3D capture of a person and pretty much create a hologram like you see in Star Wars in real life and how I wish I had had an opportunity to capture my father before his passing. 

 

In very rudimentary ways, that is possible and they've even been talking about this yesterday. They've even brought back to life people that have passed on and recreated their figure in 3D just through photographs, and you know, I'm sure quite a bit of 3D modeling clean up. It's pretty exciting some of the technology that's being developed in terms of presence. I think really the thing that people are after right now is creating that co-presence with people that are actually here. You have someone in Bulgaria and you're in the United States and bringing that likeness through holography into your actual space, where you can sit across from each other and have a conversation and you're digital in their world and they’re digital in your world but you physically have that connection.

 

Katty

I've been fortunate to be at a conference where the speaker, from my very elementary vocabulary, had been beamed into that space and the facilitator and the guests were having this conversation and the facilitator was there in person, but the guest was a hologram. And it was fascinating to be in that space. And this is several years ago, so I'm sure that technology has just exponentially grown from there. But even there, it was so fascinating to be able to hear someone and it was just different than to watch a YouTube video of them. They were there, but they weren't, but they were so it was just really fascinating for them to be there and be able to answer your questions. Live, if you will. 

 

Suzan

Yeah, because you get their whole presence and all their mannerisms.

 

Katty

When you describe what you do to people, how do you go about it to the layman audience when you tell them what it is you do, how do you how do you tell them? Do you say I'm more of a creative do you say I'm more of a technologist, what do you say?

 

Susan

I use the term creative technologist now. When I first moved into and got interested in virtual reality and augmented reality, my goal was to work as a consultant as a UX expert, but I really got interested in making things and becoming a creator. So I see myself more as an experience creator and experience director, using the technology to create experiences out in the real world. I don't know how I describe myself!  But for the longest time when I was a UX designer, people would ask me what I did, like my family or someone that really doesn't have a lot of understanding of the technology industry, I would just say I was a web designer and it was close enough, but I can't really say that anymore. Sometimes, I just say I'm a designer. But if I'm talking to someone who understands the technology I say, I'm an XR creator, creative technologist.

 

Katty

I would imagine. Some people don't even understand what it is that I do, even though to me it's just such an easy thing. But anyway, where does inspiration come from for you? Is it in the real world, is it in the digital world, how do you get inspired?

 

Suzan

I would say it's the internal world. Just taking time to be quiet and allow inspiration to come to me. I would say it's like divinely inspired. That's where the predominant inspiration comes from.

 

Katty

Is there a practice for you.. do you meditate on it?

 

Suzan

Well I don't meditate on it, but I do have a regular daily meditation practice and I do yoga, so I definitely take quiet time for myself. I believe that myself and everyone, had been brought here with unique talent and gifts and to become quiet, I think we're pushed in that direction and we're driven to whatever that is. 

But it requires getting quiet, to really listen, to know what that is. And so that's really my inspiration. That's my primary inspiration and outside I think I've always been very involved in communities. All the way back when I was in marketing, I’ve always been a part of the community and I think that's really important to know what other people are doing and know what people are doing locally. I'm very involved in the AWE, the Augmented World Expo, which has been around for I think 12 years now. I think it was the first and continues to be the biggest Expo for this technology. And I myself and my partner, Ray Mosco have been co-producing AWE Nights LA for our fourth year now. So the local chapter for AWE. I worked for many years at the LA User Experience meetup doing programs and participating. I did a mentorship program for about 4 years in Downtown Los Angeles, where once a month, designers would come in and just show their work and they had an opportunity to get feedback from whoever was there and that was really rewarding.

Katty

Thank you for that. That's always been something that I've really admired about you. Is this drive to give back to the community. I do remember you are very, very active in the user experience meetup space, always posting, always welcoming me and inviting me to the events that you were having, and just even given what you're doing now and where you are now. The AR house just really speaks volumes about the impact of community and the impact of collaboration and how powerful that can be.  It also takes me to mentorship and whether we mentor or are mentored, how important that opportunity is to be able to give constructive feedback, to be able to help someone along on their path. So hats off to you. Ever since I've known you, you've been doing that. I’m sure the creative community thanks you. I'm sure you've influenced a lot of people.

 

Katty

But speaking of mentoring and giving feedback, it's hard to sometimes give constructive feedback and receive constructive feedback. Is there anything that you can share with people who maybe are earlier on in their careers and listening to this and getting excited about trying something new? Maybe you can share about your lessons learned? As you've grown on your path and the type of feedback that you've received or you've given.

 

Suzan

Some organizations do have a culture where open communication and feedback is welcomed, but I think many more don't have that. I don't think it's very much a part of our culture in the United States. I can't say about other cultures. I think we would all be better off if it was more a part of our culture. I think that when someone offers you feedback, it's really a gift. I think most of the time it's intended to help you and help you to grow and help you to get better or help you to evolve. I think it's really great when people are willing to give me honest feedback, because then I can get better. When people are reluctant to give honest feedback, then you can't grow.

 

Katty

It's difficult to receive it sometimes though, especially with art and creatives. Sometimes, it maybe difficult to separate the person and the piece. When giving feedback on resumes and when giving feedback on portfolios, sometimes the way it's received… somebody's identity is so tied into that piece versus we're trying to give feedback as to like, this is beautiful. It's just not what this particular client is looking for because of XY and Z. And I can see how difficult sometimes that is for somebody to hear, especially early in their path when maybe they're second guessing themselves.

 

Suzan

I kind of feel like the distinction that is really important is that when you're doing a piece of art, if we can make a distinction between art and design is when you're doing a piece of art. You're really expressing yourself, right and it's whatever it is, and someone else's criticism, maybe doesn't really matter. Maybe you have an art teacher who's trying to develop your technique, or whatever. 

 

But it's very different when you are getting hired as a designer. You're being hired to solve a problem. You're not being hired to express your innermost creativity. It's great when those two things can intersect, but more often than not, they may not. And so you really have to stay focused on what's the problem that you're trying to solve? Who's the audience, what are their needs, what are their goals, whether that's the client or the end consumer? It's really important that you stay focused on who your audience is and what are the needs of them. And I think then maybe that helps a little bit. So it's not about you. It's not about you. It's not about your vision. It's really about solving a problem.

 

Katty

Right, being able to extract yourself from the middle of it. Great insights. Thank you for that. And for you personally, how do you evolve? How do you continually learn and grow? What keeps you curious all the time?

 

Suzan

I don't know that anything keeps me curious, I just am curious. That's why my career is always evolving into something new. I like that constant learning, building, and growing. It's part of what I love about my career and so I think the one thing people in technology have is that passion to learn more and be curious. I think that's just part of my makeup. 

 

I remember when I was doing the mentorship downtown in Los Angeles, and a lot of people would come wanting to switch into UX design from graphic design. We had psychology majors from school wanting to know how to get into UX design or people from all different things. I think that what I've always done is when I become curious about something, I start to explore it. Some people might have a plan where they're going to do this in that amount of time but I just kind of start exploring and go to the community and get involved with the community and doors start to open and I find my way. When I started in XR, and XR is a term that combines VR and AR for listeners that may not know, so when I started my journey in XR, I was going to plan to be a consultant as a UX designer, and ended up getting interested really in creating.

 

Katty

Love that. You talked about community again, and I'd love to just hear from you as you're looking to hire people or you're looking for other collaborators. What is it that you look for? What's important to you? Is it skills, is it fit? Is it vision? What specifically draws you?

 

Suzan

It's definitely skills. It's important to have the skills to be able to get the job done. But aside from that, what's really important to me is how they are as a communicator. Are they able to have conversations openly about their work and receive feedback? Are they good about letting me know what their schedule is or scheduled shifts so I can count on the delivery? So I'd say a second to skill is really communication is so important in any career.

 

Katty

At every stage from the interview stage, all the way through.

 

Suzan

Even how you present yourself online is a form of communication.

 

Katty

Absolutely. 100% and I think a lot of people forget and they certainly forget that with social media. A lot of hiring managers do have an opportunity to evaluate and get a peek into communication styles and/or skills and so forth. I mean our portfolios, our LinkedIn profiles, all of that is an extension of who we are right now. What is it that you now know, as a creative technologist, or as just someone who's been in this field for many years and has seen your career morph and evolve to where it is today, what is it that you wished you had known when you first started in your path?

 

Katty

Okay, think about that we’ll come back to that before we wrap up. I’d love to, again, take you back to the earlier days. Lessons learned along the way?

 

Suzan

I think my lessons learned are don't take things personally.. Even though I think many creatives tend to take things personally. Never assume you know why a choice was made in your favor or to your disfavor. There's always 100 things going on that don't have anything to do with you. I've learned over the years not to personalize things, because that can be very constricting, and I think damaging to self confidence. That's something I've definitely learned along the way. It's something that I see other people, especially younger people struggle with. So that's the big one. I think the other thing is that there's not a finite number of opportunities. There's really an infinite number of opportunities and to believe in the possibilities of your dreams coming true and to follow those dreams wherever they take you. And there's always going to be an opportunity at the right place and the right time.

 

Katty

Beautiful. Well you can see I have “dwell in possibilities” on my wall so I’m a big fan of just seeing what else is out there and if there isn’t, really this opportunity that we've always had but it’s probably been amplified even more now because of COVID, this opportunity to just create possibilities. To venture out to do what it is that one wants to do if a traditional 9-5 job isn’t it, that opportunity, especially in the freelance space, that we’re in. We’ve always known that this exists… this opportunity for entrepreneurship… and creating our possibilities is a beautiful thing.

 

Suzan

Yeah, now is a good time for that. COVID had some positive impacts. I think our work-life was definitely one of them, at least for technologists and creatives, the ability to work from home and opening up so much more opportunities for freelance has been really great. 

 

Katty

How was that overall impact for you? You’ve always worked from home, have you not? 

 

Suzan

No, I haven’t always worked from home. Twice in my career I was a solopreneur. Earlier in my career when I first met you and more recently. But when I was in UX design I was, for the most part working at companies. 

 

That’s interesting. When COVID hit it wasn’t all that different for me because at the time, I was working from home. But, that’s not entirely true because I think the intensity of being forced to be at home and the lack of human contact, and having my kids home everyday from school.. it was challenging. We live in a small house so it was really challenging and I’ve always been very much of an introvert and not really good at when I go to events. I tend to go late and leave early so I don’t have to do a lot of the networking, even though that’s the reason I go. It’s a little bit challenging for me to really put myself out there on a one-on-one basis when networking. 

 

After COVID, the first party that I went to I was walking up to people and saying hi and introducing myself and it was completely natural because there was such a hunger for human connection. For me, that was a really positive impact, because I have a much easier time networking. In fact, that’s how I met the people here who run the AR House, and that’s how I got here. 

 

It was the first party I had been to since COVID a few months back and I had recognized Lucas Rizzotto because I see a lot of his work online and I just walked up to him and said I love your work, I follow your work. We got to talking and he introduced me to his business partner, Aidan and I was talking about my project downtown in Pershing Square, which is a location-based AR project. Coincidentally that month, they were being sponsored by Niantic, and Niantic is in the process of putting out there location-based technology visual positioning system. So he said “hey, you should come by and hang out when Niantic is here and get to know the cohort. I did, and then the next month, I applied to come and live here.

Katty

I love how that kind of came back full circle for you back into being with community. Are you able to talk a little bit about your Pershing Square project? 

Suzan

Absolutely, it’s my personal project so there is no NDA. Early on I got involved with the Open Air Cloud which is a Non-profit organization that promotes open and interoperable standards for the Metaverse, the air cloud, whatever we want to call it. 

I had been working with them for some time and when their technology got mature enough to build something with, I decided I wanted to make a location-based something. For whatever reason I picked Pershing Square and I brought on a design partner, Laura Garcia, to collaborate with and she did some research. I wanted to do something that was impactful, socially impactful and meaningful so we threw around a bunch of different ideas and we ended up deciding on water conservation.

Pershing Square has a history around the fountain and the design right now. The fountain is now dry, but the design was created to represent the water that is diverted to other places to Los Angeles, so it already had this history around water. We decided to do a project around water conservation and it’s coming along very slowly. I had a small development team come together for the AWE AR Cloud challenge back in November. We won the challenge and I’ve continued to develop the design. I am now in the stage where I am applying for funding. I’ve applied for three grants now… My first time doing grant applications. Hopefully, one of them says yes. The goal of the project was to do something that was impactful and also that I believed could get funded. So a lot of thought has gone into this exhibit that will be throughout Pershing Square that educates people about the water ecosystem in LA. The fact that we get our water from all these different places. The seriousness of this drought, I know we’re going to fill it this Summer.

I know June 1st there’s legislation happening where we’re going to start getting restricted on our water usage and there is discussion on if we stop watering outside, and all the trees died what a huge environmental disaster that would be  and how difficult that would be to recreate that. We’re not in a very good place around water. The exhibit is intended to raise that awareness and also engage people in interactions, where we have the opportunity to interact with content that is more engaging and more immersive and hopefully drive behavior change. 

We’ve put a lot of thought into how we would measure that and create partnerships with local businesses and municipalities to help us measure and bring the whole community together around the issue. 

Katty

Beautiful, I got goosebumps. Beautiful, congratulations. 

Suzan

Thank you. Well, congratulate me when I actually get the money to build it.

Katty

The first step is to have the idea and the concept and putting it to a true social impact, environmental impact cause so, you are there. I do remember in Pershing Square, there is even like a sculpture the represents the aqueduct if I’m not mistaken.

Suzan 

Yeah, it’s like a big purple wall and that's where the water used to come down the purple wall into the fountain and it doesn’t do that anymore. 

Katty 

The symbolism doesn't escape me that even that’s dry. 

Suzan

We’re going to put water back there. People will create an oasis by engaging in these water-saving activities. Then we’ll have the plants grow and the more people that contribute, the more beautiful that the oasis is.

Katty 

Is there a way for the public to help support? Is there a GoFundMe if a listener here hears it and say I’m interested? 

Suzan

That is not set up yet, but I do have a website, it’s still a bit of a work in progress but my contact information at least is there and it’s concreteoasis.city. 

Katty

We’ll put that in the show notes. Where else besides Concrete Oasis can people find you? Are you available for projects? Are you available for new opportunities? How could people find you and reach out to you?

Suzan 

The best way to find me is on LinkedIn, that’s where I’m the most active. So it’s Suzan Oslin. I’m also on Twitter.

Suzan, thank you so much for being here and really educating us on this amazing new space that you're forging into and taking us along with you.