Process and Methodology

Intro

Below is essentially a state of my practice address, I outline thoughts for how I believe speculative design can be most effective operating in the now. One can think of this less as a manifesto and more of an extended explanation of the current state of my practice. There are some tangents and I update it regularly. I am happy to have a conversation about any aspect, so feel free to contact me! I love this stuff.

Practice

I find that speculation is most powerful when it addresses how the things we design, design our world and define the human condition. Of course, I’m thinking about Heidegger and Nietzsche, that humans are defined by their technology, but I’m actually more interested in the work of Bernard Stiegler, that technology presupposes culture, and ultimately time itself. That our future is defined not by the people but by the technology because it actually defines the people themselves. My speculative design practice extends the cultural ramifications of emerging technology into alternative future worldviews. In this space, I allow the ontological feedback loop of design, that the things we design design us back, defined by Anne-Marie Willis, to play out.

I start in a typical manner by collecting “signals” of the possibility. This could be something about an artificial womb or new insight into spider webs being extensions of the spiders minds or just a daydream thinking about the future of gas stations. These are things I am constantly compiling and looking for. I trained this eye for peeling back layers of the world to reveal oddness and potentials as a standup comedian.

Most foresight practitioners, extend these into trends in order to predict but I instead create worldviews in order to speculate on the types of people we might become. I was taught the importance of worldviews by Fiona Raby and Anthony Dunne as both a student and research assistant. Creating a world helps you extend the possibilities of an emerging technology beyond the obvious. It also creates a frame for me to play in. Once I set up the world I can play simple games of if this is true what else is true? I use various lenses and speculative methods such as the STEEP Model (Social, Technical, Environmental, Economic, Political) and the futures wheel to start delving deeper into these worlds.

An essential aspect is to start the making process as soon as possible. Just to get things from this world manifested so I can look at them. Speculative design after all is a thought experiment made physical. As I make things, I tweak the worldview. It becomes a back and forth process between world and artifact until I find the world is the best it can be and it is represented best by the artifact.

It is extremely important to start making things so that you can get feedback from experts. The sooner an expert tells you something's not right, the soon you can adjust. The last thing you want is to get the end of a design, only for an expert to be like those ballons are far too small and could never support the weight of those ships. Better to find out right at the beginning. Plus, it is nice to gage the interest of the experts. They are afterall a core part my target audience.

Lastly, I create an experience of the core idea of the world. What are the right combination of artifacts to bring this alternative future to life. How do I engage an audience in the more transformative way. As I begin to expand this area of my practice I have started to consider more deeply the “project frame.”

Project Frames

While foresight practitioners should be quite familiar with the Voros cones, and some may be familiar with the STEEP model, I would like to propose a new concept of frames. It is no longer good enough to present a new worldview. The worldview needs to be approached from several frames. If the Voros cones help to project possibilities, and the STEEP model helps to extrapolate ramifications, I would like to propose a new model of the project frame by which the speculative designer and/or foresight practitioner can most effectively communicate.

Elliott Montgomery has said that in a world in which everyone lives in space suits, you don’t need to make a space suit, but maybe a spacesuit patch kit. As we pull this frame out, how does the audience became investors in a spacesuit patch kit company. If we dive deeper, what are new excuses for why people are late for a date? “Sorry, my suit had a flat.” Is there adapted or new language? Perhaps it becomes valuable to hear someone explaining why they are late for a date? How can a ripped spacesuit reveal the culture of a space colony?

Stuart Candy has said, in a world with a snake dog, don’t show us the snake dog, show the snake dog leash and ask the participant to image the snake dog. A simple game of If this then that becomes valuable in asking, if this is true what else is true? If snakedogs exists, and snake dog leashes exist, surely pet stores exist, therefore coupons exist, how do people excess coupons in this world? How does the snake dog leash reveal an entire economic ecosystem?

Speculative designers must ask, who is my audiences supposed to be, who do I want them to think made this or found these objects or records, who created this experience? How does one pull the frame of a project into the now by making participants active stakeholders in it. When to go deeper? When to show less? When to show more? When does ambiguity give space for the imagination and when does it create confusion?

I recently hear someone describe design as making singular decisions with multiple points of value. I believe considering the project frame allows the speculative designer to get the most value at of their ideas.

Closing the Loop

Speculative design is sometimes criticized as having no concrete theory of change. As a systems designer, familiar with how the things we design act back upon us I would say that speculative design actually is perhaps the most potent change agent. If a discursive project is clear and powerful, and put in front of the right audience then its power to transform the audience is unmatched.

For me the right audience is technology companies. This is where I intervene into the ontological feedback loop. By challenging the people who make the things which define our world and ultimately us. Tony Fry as said, “we must remake the world that will remake us” and I would argue that we must remake the people, who will remake the world, that will remake us. This is why my projects are always aimed at big tech-companies like IBM, Facebook, Microsoft, Uber… and Elon Musk.

I think by bringing a critical lens to these people we can make them be better actors in the world. This is why I believe speculative design is also a form of activism. As Micah White, founder of occupy wall street, has said, the future of activism is a struggle to capture the imagination of humanity. Well speculative design is one of the most powerful tools to ignite imaginations. I am a speculative designer. I am an activist.