Background
Parson's School of Design Strategies offers a studio course in Speculative Design and Design Futures.
Course Description
With the increasing rate of change in technology, science, and society speculative and futures-oriented design approaches are critical to engaging with the wicked problems of tomorrow. This studio will investigate the ways in which design can be used as a practice of critique, speculation, and hypothetical proposition. Students will learn and develop techniques and methods for identifying opportunities in existing complex systems and discovering ways to propose vivid, thought provoking alternatives to those systems. The studio is typically organized in two phases: the first is dedicated to an exploration of speculative and futures-oriented methods and precedents, the second is focused on a specific context. Students further explore the working methodologies emphasized by the design curriculum. Working in groups, students address broader, more socially challenging situations. Emphasis is placed on the ability to frame a design brief on an achievable scale and to create final proposals that provide criteria for self-assessment.
The course splits students into two groups: one focused on issues around climate, the other around social justice. I elected to be part of the climate group due to my interests in sustainability
Final Assignment Goals
I researched using linkedIn to understand more the roles, mindsets, and perspectives of the people within corporate sustainability.
I developed sets of questions and issue themes which served as a foundation for developing the designed artifact.
What I recognized is that many of the issues and questions I came up with verged on taboo.
Was there a "safe space" outside of working life in order to discuss these difficulties realities?