Course Description

As organizations, governments, and corporations face rapid change and uncertain times, new ways of designing for a preferable future is imperative. Whereas human-centered design and design thinking focus on the near future, this course will look at how to design for longer-term. In this course, students learn various speculative design techniques and gain hands-on experience with a variety of forecasting methods, including trendspotting and STEEP analysis. Structured around understanding the field of Speculative & Critical Design (SCD), this studio-based course covers its history, scope, core concepts, criticism and application to conduct future-facing design research, using design projects as the main vehicle for exploration. SCD is explored from multiple perspectives using different mediums such as films, design projects, essays and published papers. Working with both practice and theory, participants learn to use SCD methods as a medium to raise critical questions and to provoke debate on what alternative futures could be. The goal is to be unconstrained by ‘what is’, and to embrace the ‘what if’. The work in this course is transdisciplinary, and by the end of this course, participants develop an understanding of techniques used to address ‘wicked problems’ using a fictitious approach, and get the opportunity to apply their newly acquired knowledge through a project.