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Discipline

Design futures

Uses the means of design, such as objects, images and experiences, to make possible futures tangible and open the debate about which one we want.

In Spanish
Diseño de futuros
Origin
Critical design by Dunne (1999); design fiction by Sterling (2005) and Bleecker (2009); experiential futures by Candy (2010)

What it deals with

Futures described in a report are hard to imagine and discuss. Design turns them into something you can see, touch or live, making them easier to talk about and decide on.

Principles

  • Make the abstract tangible

    An object from the future is grasped faster than a report about it.

  • Open questions

    It does not aim to sell a product, but to spark a conversation.

  • Draw on foresight

    It starts from signals, trends and scenarios so that what is imagined is plausible.

Applications in design

  • Use it like this

    Bring a future into a concrete object so the team can discuss it before deciding.

  • Avoid

    Using a futuristic aesthetic just to impress, with no question behind it.

  • Don’t fall for it

    Separate the speculative from what you will actually build, and say so clearly.

Especialidades

Specialty

Speculative design

Designs objects from possible futures to ask questions, not to sell them.

Specialty

Design fiction

Shows objects from a fictional world as if they were ordinary, to make a change believable.

Specialty

Critical design

Objects that question how we live with technology, instead of selling it.

Concepts

  • ConceptDiegetic prototypeA technology that doesn't exist yet, shown working inside a fiction.

Methods and tools

  • MethodCausal layered analysis (CLA)Looking at a problem in four layers, from what the news says to the myths that sustain it.
  • MethodBackcastingImagining the future you want and walking back to today to see which steps lead there.
  • MethodScenario planningImagining several plausible futures to make decisions that hold up in all of them.
  • MethodThree horizonsA framework for talking about change with three curves: what works today, what's coming and the transition.
  • MethodCultural probesA pack of open-ended tasks that people complete on their own in daily life and send back.
  • ApproachResearch through designResearching by designing: prototypes are used to generate knowledge, not just products.
  • MethodThe Thing From The FutureA card game for imagining objects from possible futures and talking about them.

Connections

Builds on

Related to

Authors and works

  1. Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby

    Developed critical design and speculative design.

  2. Julian Bleecker and Bruce Sterling

    Shaped design fiction.

  3. Stuart Candy

    Proposed experiential futures.

Sources

Original sources

  • Dunne, A. (1999). Hertzian tales: Electronic products, aesthetic experience and critical design. RCA CRD Research Publications.
  • Dunne, A., & Raby, F. (2013). Speculative everything: Design, fiction, and social dreaming. MIT Press.
  • Sterling, B. (2005). Shaping things. MIT Press.
  • Bleecker, J. (2009). Design fiction: A short essay on design, science, fact and fiction. Near Future Laboratory. View source: Bleecker, J. (2009)
  • Candy, S. (2010). The futures of everyday life: Politics and the design of experiential scenarios [Doctoral dissertation, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa].

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