Speculative design
Designs objects and scenarios from possible futures to raise questions and open debate, instead of solving problems or selling products.
What problem it addresses
Design usually sticks to solving present problems and rarely asks what future we want.
Principles
Ask, don't solve
Its aim is to open debate about what future we want, not to provide solutions.
The possible, not just the probable
It imagines futures that could happen, even if they aren't the most expected.
Outside the market
It isn't designed to be sold, but to make people think.
An example
Two ways of designing from the same technology.
Dunne and Raby sum up this contrast in their A/B list: neither approach is better; they do different jobs.
How it works
An object from the future makes an abstract idea concrete.
Being strange but believable, it makes people ask why it exists.
The conversation it sparks matters more than the object.
Applications in design
Use it like this
Design an object from a possible future and use it to ask what seems desirable and what does not.
Avoid
Confusing speculation with decorative science fiction, without a clear question.
Don’t fall for it
Always explain that it is a speculation, so it isn't taken for a real product.
Connections
Authors and works
- 1999
Anthony Dunne
Proposed critical design in Hertzian Tales.
- 2013
Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby
Developed it as speculative design in Speculative Everything.
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.
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