What is Speculative Design

How to think about the future and create ground-breaking products like iPhone?📱 Speculative design is here to help. But... what is it?? How you can use to improve your service or product? Let's find out together.

So... What is it?

Speculative design addresses big societal issues with design processes and systems. It aims to imagine all the possible futures, define what we want/don’t want to see in there, and explore what can be created to make it happen.

Neo_Fruits is one of the examples of speculative design which explores a scenario where food is created artificially. Fruits are created with a 4d printing technology from Cellulose. Then mineral and vitamin enriched liquids are injected into the micro-tubes, giving fruits volume, color, texture, and flavour. 😲

Typical design takes a look at small issues. Speculative design broadens the scope and tries to tackle the biggest issues in society.

Lucy McRae imagined a future with a lack of human touch, wondering whether mechanical touch can become a solution. The Compression Carpet is a machine that offers a hug to a person craving intimacy, mimicking the positive effects of a human hug.

Speculative Design seeks to answer questions like:

🟣 How can design impact the entire world?
🟣 How can we design fora healthier ecosystem?
🟣 How can future technologies impact our products and services — and vice versa?

What's in it for you?

When coupled with concrete design practices, speculative design can help businesses be ahead of the game.

Visa, Pepsi, and Ford are hiring science fiction writers to help imagine possible futures and create more innovative products and strategies.

Want to know about other Innovative approaches? Join our Innovation Safari in London – Design Thinking and Innovation Week!