What does the future look like and how do we actually get there? A Design Fiction 101 talk and workshop at Chapman University with a wonderful group of students in Jillian Warren's course. We followed that with an interactive discussion and questions, and then the fun part — a practical component, hands-on, where we went into a possible future and imagined that future through artifacts that the students ‘found’ there.

What happens when futures work intersects the grounded circuits of meaning and material culture and not just other futures workers or foresight ‘experts’? Gary, his generative documentary ‘Eno’, and Brian (Eno) are a kind of futurist of the best sort — they make the worlds they imagine and do so materially — and shape culture far more than the futurists who think getting a certificate in Foresight is good enough to call yourself one.

In a world where creative professionals are constantly navigating shifting landscapes, how do we stay ahead of the curve? How do we not only imagine but also shape the future of design, business, and innovation? Join us for SuperSeminar Season 03, Episode 01 featuring Kevin Bethune and Dr. Jake Dunagan, two leading voices shaping the future of design, innovation, and professional creative practice.

A collaboration screening Hustwit's groundbreaking generative documentary and industry summit on possible futures of visual storytelling, generative content, and generative art at Brain Dead Studios, Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles.

Episode 092 of the Near Future Laboratory Podcast anticipates our 2024 Imagine Harder Summit & Workshop on The Future of Work.

The Distant Early Warning deck allows players to embark on a "cool trip into exotic regions," blending conventional games with media elements that are both verbal and pictorial. It's a conversational card game where the importance lies not just in the identity of the cards, but in the varied relationships and juxtapositions between them.

Another productive collab with Tech Concept Lab — A Two-Day Workshop & Summit. These times are kinetic, chaotic, and full of dynamics that indicate change, if nothing more precise. It’s more than important — indeed it is existentially vital — that we constantly prototype and investigate possible futures as a matter of course. Think of these kinds of ‘workshops’ or ‘summits’ as training exercises, preparing ourselves for tomorrow, with no hard-and-fast expectation about tomorrow. This isn’t training for war, although some may prefer the metaphor.

91 Podcasts in 24 Hours! Hyper Island Vision Week is when students chart their future paths while envisioning societal impact. Jörg Teichgraeber invited me to contribute to Vision Week 2024 by facilitating a Design Fiction workshop for students. A 'podcast from the future' was the brief. A Design Fiction conceit in which students imagine into a future world and represent the contours of that world through a humble podcast that has come back from the future.

The Cybertruck and the camper together are like a visual narrative in which the present is constantly overshadowed by the futures we were promised but that can never arrive. ‘Utopia’ and ‘Dystopia’ are tropes, not action plans.

What's Tom Sachs' worldbuilding got to do with Design Fiction? What can be learned as regards the intersection of speculation, art, design to create playful non-confrontational spaces for entering into alternative, other, adjacent possible worlds?

Imagination is a crucial tool in shaping our future, especially in the context of climate change and sustainability. While dystopian narratives dominate the media, there's a growing need for positive, actionable visions of the future—something that Design Fiction uniquely offers. Unlike science fiction, which often explores far-off possibilities, Design Fiction brings those possibilities into the present through tangible artifacts. These artifacts allow us to experience and critique potential futures, making them a powerful tool for innovation. By materializing utopian visions, Design Fiction can shift the narrative from despair to hope, inspiring...

What can we learn about the ways that science-fiction and science fact circulate within the worlds of entertainment? Are there ways that the value creation mechanisms of entertainment can be deliberately intergrated into the value creation mechanisms of capitalism whereby 'innovation' actively engages the storytelling approaches, methodologies and techniques of the entertainment industry, purposely and above the line?

Design Fiction is an approach and methodology that helps reveal and playfully represent possibilities in the form of pragmatic material artifacts. It does this so as to exercise the imagination, which is the existential capability we have to see/create/conjure the unexpected, unanticipated newness that we call 'inspiration' and 'innovation.' Design Fiction operates in the dynamic space between barely possible and pragmatic reality, playfully messing with the tension between the not true *yet and what could be(come). This approach ignites and inspires the kind of thinking that leads to farm-fresh ideas,...

In Episode 091 of the Near Future Laboratory Podcast, I talk with Tobias Revell and we explore the fascinating intersection of speculative fiction and technological innovation, looking into the imaginative worlds of Philip K. Dick and the film Minority Report. Our dialogue reveals not only the creative visions of PKD, but also the broader implications for how we perceive and shape our future through imaginative storytelling and intelligent design.

Imagine giving a consumer electronics company executive a copy of VALIS or Ubik and saying, “Your design brief is between pages 16-48, but I recommend reading this cover to cover..I’d like to manufacture the artifact on page 24, eventually at scale..I’ll need 1,000 units in 9 months to do some test marketing and consumer studies..how much?” Man, I’d love to live in that world where you could write a story as a design brief.

In October of 2012, a multidisciplinary group of artists, engineers, designers, and speculators spent three days in Detroit to “do” science fiction: tangle up in fact and fiction and engage in curious crosstalk about the things that could be. The goal, then, was to Design Fiction and turn talk into deliberate actions and artifacts; to swerve the present by telling the story of a near future we imagine can be possible.

An Inside Look at Creativity and Innovation with Julian Bleecker and Kyle Ng

Design Fiction mingles amongst science fiction, imagination, real-world technology, cultural practices, and audaciously influences popular culture and future technologies. This essay by Emmet Byrne and Susannah Schouweiler highlights the symbiotic relationship between design, science fiction, and the creative process, making the future more tangible and shaping it through rigorous design practices.

Communicating future scenarios is often very difficult, but Design Fiction offers an effective tool for meeting that challenge. In this episode of Gartner Futures Lab, we discuss how IT leaders should use design to create tangible and evocative prototypes that inspire conversations about plausible futures.

Beautiful visual notations inscribed by Shaun Au in The Manual of Design Fiction

This conversation goes into the evolving nature of work with the rise of artificial intelligence, exploring predictions of job obsolescence and the need for systemic analysis beyond technological advancements. It features insights from Julian Bleecker of Near Future Laboratory, the discussion highlights the role of 'design fiction' in driving true innovation through human creativity.

Grounded Wisdom is a unique tarot card deck that bridges design, ecology, and mysticism. Inspired by 20th-century modernist farming posters, these cards serve as a creative toolkit for designers and eco-conscious individuals, exploring the symbiotic relationship between soil and life. Each card offers questions that spark holistic, regenerative design thinking and offers us a way to consider how ourselves and our designs connect back to the earth.

Episode 089 of the Near Future Laboratory Podcast is an in-depth conversation with guest Silvio Lorusso, a designer, artist, and writer based in Lisbon. Our discussion centers around the complex relationship between design, disillusionment, and the evolving role of design in society, as Silvio has articulated in his recent book 'What Design Can't Do', a critique of the rhetorical expectations placed upon design.

Why is it a struggle for creatives to self-promote their hard work? I should say 'some' creatives. Perhaps I should say 'most'? Tyler the Creator's bewilderment at why creators shy away from promoting their work, was a poignant consideration of this challenge, and was shared in a post by Yancey Strickler from Metalabel. I share some experiences I've had in this context, including the tragic difficulty co-authors I've worked with had, to the point where the collaboration broke down as they could not do the work. It wasn't a refusal...

the work kit of design fiction

ANDI Innovation Land Summit 2024

A 24 hour Design Fiction Sprint to Imagine Possible AI Futures Artifacts

..There's no question in my mind that you could create a whole community just around collecting rocks that look like shoes. If you start putting your passion onto the Internet, you're going to attract other people who have similar interests. It's a wonderful machine for that. Or it's a ecology for collecting affinities or attracting affinities. I think once you put a stake in the ground and you kind of start creating a locus of energy around a particular thing, you're attracting other people who have that same interest, and...

Design Meets is a Toronto-based and online event about people getting together and sharing their ideas. This presentation by Julian Bleecker will present Design Fiction, a design-led approach to augmenting analytic research by grounding the implications of research into tangible, relatable artifacts.

A short essay on the complexity of the relationship between creativity and commercialism in design, highlighting the need for a collaborative approach between creativity (design, as a catch-all) and structure ('the business') as a strategy for earthly survival.

Discussing the futures of creative arts practices, innovation, policy, and the creative economy

Causal Islands is about bringing together experts and enthusiasts from many different backgrounds and sharing and learning together. We are creative technologists, researchers, and builders, exploring what the future of computing can be. The LA community edition on Saturday, March 23rd, 2024 has themes of building and running networks together, exploring the future through creativity and poetics of computing, tools for thought and other interfaces for human knowledge, emerging and rethinking social networks, generative AI as a humane tool for people, and the journey of building a more distributed web.

analyze synthesize imagine create

artificial intelligence in the future as seen throgu

North of Patient aims to paint an inspired landscape of healthcare's future through dialogues with creative and unconventional thinkers globally.

Signs of change workshop at SxSW South by Southwest 2024 where we use Design Fiction to imagine the implications of change using the typical street sign as the grounding artifact, or as an archetype that helps with the hard work of imagining change.

sxsw 2024 imagine harder panel

Let's use Design Fiction to wonder what might be for breakfast in a future in which AI is as normal, ordinary, and everyday as 10 minute pizza delivery and wheels on luggage and the other benefits brought by technology innovation? Join us for General Seminar where we will be discussing artifacts that might appear in a magazine from an AI future.

Julian Bleecker combines OpenAI and ElevenLabs to generate an AI created daily poem, blending technology with creativity and design fiction sensibilities with a hint of psychogeography.

Julian Bleecker, BSEE, MSEng, Ph.D. visited Chapman University on February 28, 2024, to deliver the annual Bensussen Lecture in the Arts Series, invited by Professor Justin St. P. Walsh. The visit included engaging with students and faculty who have integrated Design Fiction into their curriculum, demonstrating the impact of Near Future Laboratory's work.

Week 7 of 2024 at the Near Future Laboratory from the Discord. Highlights include advancements in artificial intelligence in healthcare, ethical AI licensing, speculative design fiction, innovative product design narratives, and the latest on critical and emerging technologies. It was a week filled with thought-provoking content on AI, design fiction, speculative futures, and more, shared by a creative community passionate about shaping the future.

enhancing your product decision making abilities

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Near Future Laboratory Podcast Episode 084 Thrilling Wonder Stories is a podcast that delves into the intersection of science, technology, and the arts. It features discussions on a wide range of topics including consciousness, film special effects, artificial intelligence, and science fiction. The podcast aims to explore futuristic ideas and the potential of human creativity through insightful dialogue. It's a resource for listeners interested in speculative concepts and the exploration of how technology influences society and culture.

Read about the creation of an iPhone app that points users towards the center of the galaxy, highlighting the ease of technology use and development with AI tools. The post also discusses the impact of AI on traditional programming skills, including perspectives on the future of coding craftsmanship and the debate over technology's role in democratizing innovation versus diminishing expert skill sets. Features reflections on personal achievements in technology and the philosophical implications of AI in programming.

The continuing journey to foster a community-driven creative renaissance through collaboration, coordination, and amplification. The new Token Ring Web Ring initiative leverages structured communication to promote cooperative work and envision more habitable future worlds.

Imagination is often dismissed as childish, or a frill. But it also lets us picture alternative futures, and technologies that haven't been invented yet. So how do we harness our imagination? And in an age where Big Tech promises to solve our problems for us, how do we use our imaginations to build the futures we want?

Discover how Design Fiction can transform your strategic planning, enabling CEOs and business executives to anticipate market trends, innovate, and lead with confidence in a dynamic business environment.

In this episode, I chat with the fun, creative, thoughtful Ruth Guerra, a design researcher with a knack for amplifying the questions about design, creativity, research and futures through a wonderful social media presence. We dive into her journey from a theater undergrad to mastering future design, where she champions participatory design with a twist. Ruth shares her passion for storytelling, not just any storytelling, but the kind that shapes our future. She's also getting busy hosting innovative workshops to help people get a sense of how design research and...

A design fiction magazine from a possible AI future and podcasting with Radha Mistry and Nora Young

What is Design Fiction? Design Fiction uses sci-fi and design to create prototypes, envisioning future possibilities and their impacts. It helps organizations think beyond current trends, fostering a deeper understanding of potential technological and societal changes through tangible artifacts.

This blog post examines the concept of the 'Future Mundane,' a design philosophy focusing on the practical, everyday aspects of future technologies rather than speculative, heroic, or overly idealized visions.

Week Notes from the Near Future Laboratory including The Work Kit of Design Fiction, work on a Magazine from a Possible AI Future, reflections on how not to imagine the future of artificial intelligence, and what exactly is Design Fiction

Metaverse Futures, Design Fiction, Tourism Futures, Center for Science and the Imagination, Workshop, AI Futures

Design Fiction translates signals into tangible, meaningful artifacts. Artifacts. Not storyboards.

AI, Design Fiction, Annual Reports.

Design fiction creates artifacts, not speculations.

Julian Bleecker explains the development of Design Fiction, a method he pioneered for imagining future scenarios through the creation of tangible artifacts. Julian discusses some of the ways the practice can help guide decision-making and its uses in strategy and communication. Julian invites listeners to explore this interdisciplinary approach through publications and the , a community applying Design Fiction principles to a broad range of projects.

Julian Bleecker explains the development of Design Fiction, a method he pioneered for imagining future scenarios through the creation of tangible artifacts. Julian discusses some of the ways the practice can help guide decision-making and its uses in strategy and communication. Julian invites listeners to explore this interdisciplinary approach through publications and the community applying Design Fiction principles to a broad range of projects.

episode 080 soil futures and tarot decks with gabby morris

Dad Band Futures Fest: Broadcast from Later 46

This podcast episode with Julian Bleecker discusses design fiction, emphasizing speculative design's role in projecting future possibilities and its influence on current design practices, highlighting the relevance of visual creativity and the intersection with technology.

the design fiction archetype

The relationship between Imagination in Structure can be antagonistic. How do we bring Imagination and Structure into collaboration rather than confrontation?

In this episode of 'The Futurists,' co-hosts Brett King and Rob Tercik discuss with Julian Bleecker, co-founder of Near Future Laboratory, his unique approach called 'Design Fiction.' They explore the imaginative process of depicting future scenarios through objects, advertisements, and everyday experiences, akin to archeological finds from the future. The conversation delves into the intriguing aspects of AI, social impacts, and the transformative potential of technologies like psychotropics and blockchain. Julian also shares insights into his past work with Nokia and the relevance of iconic brands like IKEA in envisioning...

design fiction ux cork

Uncover the essence of Design Fiction and its profound impact on imagining future possibilities through objects. Dive into a thought-provoking discussion on how design fiction transcends traditional prose, offering a fresh perspective on envisioning the future. Discover our new book, 'The Manual of Design Fiction,' for a comprehensive guide on redefining creativity and innovation in design. Explore the historical roots of design fiction and join us in reimagining the future through tangible artifacts.

Let's look at three questions about Design Fiction that often show up in my inbox.

I describe the essence of design fiction through an exploration of material culture as a lens for envisioning future possibilities. This short essay delves into how everyday objects, from breakfast cereal to speculative artifacts, serve as powerful tools for understanding potential future scenarios without resorting to grandiose predictions. Learn how design fiction creates a bridge between tangible objects and speculative futures, inviting deeper reflection on the implications of emerging technologies and societal trends. Much of this forms the basis for my book It's time to Imagine Harder

5 simple complicated things to be considered

Design Fiction

The tale of 'Blue Boat,' a simple skiff that was a container of of adventures and memories, helped me think about the notion of value that has nothing to do with money.

a strange thing happened

design fiction as the epistemological monkey

future mundane, design fiction, everyday familiar, futures design, strategic design

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Design Fiction

unintended use cases the unknown knowns in design

whats breakfast cereal got to do with the future

why do future visions all look like future visions

stanford cs547 human computer interaction seminar series

While we're in the present, dribbling over our shiny new iWhatevers and being amazed that an espresso maker can shit out coffee just from seeing a picture of a bean, Julian Bleecker and his fellow technologists are busy fucking around in the near future. He’s co-founder of the Near Future Laboratory. What’s that? Well, it’s a place where provocative concepts and ideas are materialized into non-profit conversation pieces.