Speculative Design: Prototyping Futures & Challenging Realities

“Design is too often a servant of ‘what is.’ Speculative design asks us to be midwives of ‘what could be.’”
— Adapted from Anthony Dunne

Exhibition

What if…?

What if cities grew their own food? What if your fridge owned your grocery data? What if algorithms could vote?
These “what ifs” are the engine of Speculative Design a practice that uses design not to solve today’s problems, but to provoke, question, and imagine alternative realities.
In this course, you’ll move beyond user-centered design and into world-centered design. Instead of asking “How might we fix this?” you’ll ask “What kind of futures do we want to avoid or invite?”

What You’ll Learn

From Problem-Solving to Problem-Finding
Shift from commercial design thinking to critical, poetic, and provocative approaches.

Design Fiction & Diegetic Prototypes
Build objects, interfaces, and artifacts that look real but exist in possible futures forcing audiences to think, not just use.

Worldbuilding for Designers
Create consistent, immersive future scenarios using social, technological, political, and environmental signals.

Ethics of the Imaginary
Navigate the fine line between inspiration and fear how to speculate responsibly without causing harm.

Hands-On Projects

The Extrapolation

Take an emerging trend (AI, bio-materials, surveillance tech) and push it 20 years forward. Design one artifact from that world.

The Preferable vs. Probable

Prototype two versions of the same future: one probable (based on today’s trajectory) and one preferable (based on values).

Final Speculative Object

A physical or digital prototype from a “user manual for a climate guilt tracker” to a “government-issued dream license.” Documentation + a short manifesto.

Mobirise

Who This Is For

This course welcomes:
* Designers tired of feature lists and A/B tests.
* Artists, writers, and architects who want to embed narrative in objects.
* Strategists, futurists, and technologists who want to communicate complex futures.
* Anyone who believes design should ask difficult questions, not just answer briefs.

Learning Outcomes

By the end, you will be able to:
*Identify and challenge hidden assumptions in current products and systems.
*Create evocative, believable prototypes of fictional futures.
*Use design to spark debate, empathy, and critical reflection.
*Present speculative work in a gallery, boardroom, or policy lab setting.

Tools & Materials

No coding required but sketching, collage, 3D modeling, or video editing welcome.
Miro for worldbuilding templates.
Figma / Canva / Blender / analog craft you choose the medium.
Required reading: excerpts from Dunne & Raby, Auger, and “Speculative Everything.”


Reading List

"An Introduction to Cybernetics" by W. Ross Ashby (1956)
"Design for a Brain: The Origin of Adaptive Behavior" by W. Ross Ashby (1960)
Design Cybernetics: Navigating the New" edited by Thomas Fischer and Christiane M. Herr (2019
The "Kybernetes" Special Issue on "Cybernetics and design" (Vol. 36, No. 9/10, 2007)

‌