futuredesign

Futuredesign is an interdisciplinary practice that combines design disciplines with futures studies to imagine, explore, and influence possible, probable, and desirable futures. It uses foresight methods and speculative approaches to create artifacts, services, and environments that reveal social, ethical, and technical implications of emerging trends.

It draws on design research, service design, interaction design, industrial design, urban design, and policy design. Core methods include horizon scanning, trend analysis, scenario planning, backcasting, design fiction, speculative prototyping, and participatory workshops. Outputs may be physical prototypes, conceptual artifacts, visualization, service blueprints, or immersive simulations to provoke discussion and decision-making.

Origins lie in futures studies and the design world, influenced by speculative design and design fiction movements from the late 20th and early 21st centuries. It is practiced in academia, corporate labs, think tanks, and design studios, often within wider disciplines like sustainability, human-centered design, and AI ethics.

Applications and impact: used to inform strategy, policy, product development, and urban planning. The field emphasizes long-term thinking, ethical considerations, accessibility, inclusivity, and resilience. Critics note the speculative nature of some outputs, which may function primarily as prompts for reflection rather than concrete predictions.