This week’s lecture introduced speculative design, focusing on designing for challenges that exist in both the present and the future. We explored how critical design processes can be used to question current systems and imagine alternative futures, encouraging us to think more analytically and creatively when designing for long-term impact. This approach has helped frame how we can consider future contexts and possibilities when developing our project ideas.
The lecture began with a BBC documentary that explored how children in the early 1980s imagined life in the year 2020. This highlighted how humans have always projected ideas about the future, from expectations of moon landings to advanced technology and AI. It demonstrated how future thinking is shaped by present contexts, which is especially relevant to our second project focused on designing for future living.
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We then explored speculative design in more depth, understanding it as an approach that combines design thinking methods with storytelling and future world-building. Its purpose is to create prototypes of imagined future experiences, encouraging discussion and critical reflection around what could be possible rather than focusing solely on immediate solutions.
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Speculative design and the future
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We were also introduced to the Theory of Change, which outlines four key ways of thinking about the future: possible, plausible, probable, and preferable. This framework encourages designers to consider not just what could happen, but what is likely, what is realistic, and what we would ideally want to happen. Applying this process to our design thinking helps structure how we approach projects, allowing us to explore future scenarios more critically while making informed and intentional design decisions.
Kyle also had us watch a talk on the art of speculative software, which was really engaging and helped deepen our understanding of how we interact with technology and screens in everyday life. The key takeaway was the importance of rethinking what we want software to achieve, focusing less on features and more on meaningful outcomes, behaviours, and experiences when designing better digital systems.
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Prof. Boris Müller – The art of speculative software | TEDxPotsdam
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This week’s lecture provided a valuable introduction to speculative design and the thinking behind designing for both present and future challenges. Gaining an understanding of the background to future-focused design helped clarify how designers can question existing systems while imagining alternative possibilities. Exploring these approaches highlighted the wider impact design decisions can have, not only on current users, but on future generations, encouraging a more thoughtful, responsible, and long-term mindset for myself when developing my project idea.
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