IDEO San Francisco, October 24th, 2013
We met to talk about design. And fiction. And the ways of approaching the challenge of all challenges, whatever it may be. We talked about expressing the opportunities those challenges raise as distinctly new tangible forms. As well as the essential value of mundane design. We talked about clarifying the present. We talked about designing the future. And doing both of these things with design. And fiction.
Julian Bleecker is a designer, engineer and photographer. His work focuses on creating speculative designed objects, hardware and software prototyping based on the principles that tangible things are he most evocative way to design the experiences of near future. He introduced the subtle characteristics of design informed by fiction.
James Bridle is a writer, artist, publisher and technologist. His work covers the intersection of literature, culture and the network. James discussed how to visualise and articulate invisible technologies such as drones and networks, showing the role of design into this.
Nick Foster has over fifteen years experience in the design industry as an engineer, industrial designer and futurist. He spoke about the temptations of science fiction cinema and it's relation to the industrial design of the future, introducing the concept of 'The Future Mundane'.
Cliff Kuang is a senior editor at WIRED, covering design. Previously, he was design editor at Fast Company, where he founded Co.Design and led the magazine's design coverage. He was the moderator of the evening.
Our friends at IDEO and particularly Scott Paterson kindly hosted the event. Scott’s passionate about understanding how our experience can be supported, mediated and inspired by great interaction design. He leads projects to shape physical or digital environments that bring people together to face a given challenge.
We are indebt to Arizona State University School of Arts, Media + Engineering which sponsored the event. Particularly, Ed Finn who is assistant professor at ASU and founding director of the Center for Science and the Imagination, and Joey Eschrich, Research and Operations Coordinator at the Center for Science and the Imagination.
Near Future Laboratory is a thinking, making, design, development and research practice based in California and Europe
Our goal is to understand how imaginations and hypothesis become materialized to swerve the present into new, more habitable near future worlds. Our practice involves working closely with creative, thoughtful experts within various domains of work depending on the needs of any particular project. Our associations with a wide network of well-respected and accomplished practitioners makes it possible to work from concept development to construction of unique digital designs.
www: nearfuturelaboratory.com | email: info@nearfuturelaboratory.com | twitter: @nearfuturelab