The Near Future Laboratory contributed to an off site for the Roblox design team, with a 3 hour short-format presentation followed by a hands-on workshop.

The workshop run-of-show consisted of:

1) An approximately one hour “Design Fiction 101” presentation covering the origins, evolution and current state of Design Fiction, including the notion of the Future Mundane and examples of Design Fiction projects (Quick Start Guide for the Self Driving Car, TBD Catalog: A Catalog of Products from the Near Future; Curious Rituals; Etc.) and their significance.

2) An approximately three hour hands-on Design Fiction workshop exercise using in which attendees break into a few groups of 2-3 and use the insights gained during the first hour, along with the Near Future Laboratory’s Design FictionProduct Design Work Kit to explore the creative potential of Design Fiction.

3) Q&A interspersed throughout.

The workshop provided a unique off-site creative event for key members of the Roblox design team. It offered them a fun learning & development environment. The hands-on component was particularly engaging as it allowed team members to "stretch & express" their creativity and imagination, an opportunity not always present during grueling design, development, and deployment cycles. The overall goal of the workshop was to develop world-building sensititivies to the creative and visual design team at Roblox and introduce them to an emerging design & creative practice, methodology and approach.