IFTF’s podcast episode exploring the impact of Design Fiction in shaping our vision of the future, featuring insights from the Near Future Laboratory and its collaborations with IKEA and the Museum of the Future. Key discussions include the evolution of the Near Future Laboratory, the influence of science fiction on speculative design, and the creation of tangible artifacts that provoke new thinking. Examples such as futuristic IKEA catalogs and projects highlighting cultural artifacts for space pioneers illustrate the practical application of design fiction in real-world contexts, emphasizing its power to create immersive, forward-looking experiences.

In the discussion we get into the notion of the “future mundane”, talking about it in relation to Design Fiction, which focuses on speculative futures not as distant, radical possibilities but as plausible evolutions of everyday life. Derived from this principle, ‘future mundane’ emphasizes the everyday, lived experience of the future rather than a sensational, futuristic vision.

My early fascination with near-futures over far-futures exemplifies this. He preferred futures where ideas could be executed next week or month, emphasizing an incremental, tangible future that integrates with the current world rather than something far-off and speculative.

Design Fiction focuses attention on the normal, ordinary, everyday artifacts — the quotidian properties of the lived experience. Design Fiction’s practice is to produce or materialize these artifacts to represent the implications of change — things like the IKEA Catalog from the Future, and prototypes of artifacts one might find in the future Near Future Laboratory produced for the Museum of the Future. These artifacts are meant to immerse audiences in the possible futures of ordinary objects (furniture, packaging, snacks). This directly engages with the idea of mundane futures, where the future is not necessarily utopian or dystopian but filled with familiar, everyday objects that subtly change over time.

Design Fiction projects, like BBVA’s data-driven artifacts or IKEA’s catalogs, embed futures into corporate, institutional, and even household settings. This aligns with how the future mundane is less about radical reimagination and more about embedding futuristic elements into familiar contexts (like banking services or home environments).

“Future Mundane” is a term coined to describe a Design Fiction approach that focuses on the normal, ordinary, everyday aspects of future scenarios. It involves exploring how emerging rituals, practices, artifacts, devices, technologies might integrate seamlessly into daily life, becoming mundane and almost invisible in their functionality; they become as normal as wheels on luggage, or televisions we talk to. Future Mundane is related to Design Fiction in the sense that both concepts involve speculative thinking about the future, but Future Mundane specifically emphasizes the subtle and unobtrusive integration of technology into everyday routines. It offers a unique perspective on how future innovations could blend seamlessly into our lives, contrasting with more dramatic or disruptive visions of the future often portrayed in traditional speculative design. By highlighting the potential for technology to become an unremarkable part of our daily experiences, Future Mundane encourages us to consider the social, cultural, and ethical implications of emerging technologies in a more nuanced and grounded way. This approach can help designers, technologists, and policymakers envision more realistic and sustainable futures that prioritize human needs and values, rather than focusing solely on technological advancement or novelty. Future Mundane is a valuable framework for exploring the implications of emerging technologies and shaping more responsible and inclusive visions of the future.