Systemic Explorer / Speculative Envisioner / Strategic Planner
Designing a speculative product to debate the future of powdered food preparation and consumption
This project investigated speculative design as a medium for creating immersive fictional worlds that provoke reflection on technological and societal futures. Informed by Dunne and Raby’s Speculative Everything, the work explored how artefacts and narratives can serve as tools for critique, revealing the ethical and social implications embedded in emerging technologies. Through the development of a speculative prototype the project examined how materiality, scenario building, and worldmaking contribute to user engagement and meaning-making.
Speculative design methods / Scenario design & storytelling / Engineering rich interaction
For my M1.1 project, my goal was to learn how to actively engage users in a fictional world through speculative design. I was eager to create learn how it functions as a tool for critique and envisioning possible futures.
Throughout the project, I gained a good understanding of speculative design through studying the work of Dunne and Raby’s Speculative Everything and designing a speculative artifact myself. I learned how speculative design can highlight social and ethical aspects of a new technology, and how the designer’s vision shapes the message.
The hands-on process also helped me refine my technical skills in 3D modelling and printing, allowing me to create a digital twin of the prototype with moving parts. Furthermore, I discovered the importance of scenario development and worldbuilding in immersing users to enable a rich experience.
This project reshaped my view of speculative design, creating new searches about its actionability and applications beyond the context of technology, into more societal critique.
