Can design ever break away from its subservience to a hegemonic and flattened world? What if our practice of design was a way to imagine the worlds we wish to inhabit? Can design be an agent in re-imagining and re-configuring the future?

Together we will engage with the fields of speculative design, and the methodology of creating fiction using design. We will explore the discourse around the socio-political dimensions of designing through the lens of futuring practices such as Indigenous-futuring, and queer futures.

We will grapple with the pivot in practice that comes with speculation and fiction-making as it asks us to question our intentions in design and the underlying methods and philosophies of design. Ultimately we will open up our practice (and discipline) so we can look at making in new ways. This will be an active (lots of designing and physical making) and deeply reflective (reflective writing and design, critique, sharing your opinion) studio.

We will be making speculative design artefacts that use fiction to create alternative worlds. You will be encouraged to explore new methods of making as well as leaning into your passions (typography, illustration etc) through the lens of creating alternative worlds and future-objects. This is a chance to get to know the things you do every day as a designer in new ways. Have a look at the photos to see the breadth of what you might create.

Brief 1: What if? Exploration of Speculation 
Brief 2: Self-directed Speculative Design-led Research
Brief 3: Studio Knowledge Object

https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/lucy-mcrae/

https://liamyoung.org/projects/planet-city