Workshop
Prototyping Futures - Planning ahead to stay relevant
Christopher Pearsell-Ross & Chiara Lino
Every organization needs to plan now in order to stay relevant in the future. How can companies
adapt to a future we can’t predict? How can we move from adapting to the future, to actually shaping
it?
We are at a defining moment in time. Change is happening at an incredible speed. And from new technologies to new philosophies, there are so many overlapping factors that there is simply no way to predict where we are going. Every organisation needs to plan now to stay relevant in the future. But how can you adapt to a future you can’t predict? And how can you move from adapting to the future, to shaping it? In this workshop we’ll explore different possible futures and use prototyping as a tool to make futures tangible.
Every organization needs to plan now in order to stay relevant in the future. How can companies adapt to a future we can’t predict? How can we move from adapting to the future, to actually shaping it? In this workshop, we’ll explore several possible futures. We’ll use prototyping as a tool to make them tangible. We’ll teach participants how to identify human drivers and ideate on possible solutions using lo-fi prototypes. After the workshop, participants can recreate the process, sparking conversations for their own tangible futures.
During the workshop we will talk about why designing futures is crucial right now, what futures prototyping can be and give some concrete examples of futures prototypes. We will also go through the process of creating futures prototypes: from exploring scenarios, identifying human drivers, ideate on possible solutions and create lo-fi prototypes to make different futures tangible.
After this workshop the participants will be able to formulate different future scenarios, go through the process of creating lo-fi prototypes to make these futures tangible and use these prototypes to spark conversations about what future we want.
Workshop tickets are sold separately from other conference events.
Outline
After a 30 mins introduction to the themes and the prototyping kit, the participants will work hands on on prototyping future scenarios.
Target audience
Designers that wants to strengthen their prototyping skills, explore different futures and think more critically about the implications of what we design. But also for designers who wants to use design as a driving force to create new narratives about the future we want.
About the speakers
Christopher Pearsell-Ross
I am a user experience and systemic designer working with Designit in Oslo. Lately, my main professional interests have been in complex contexts, wicked problems, and exploring futures. My background in design is in furniture, having run my own studio in Canada for several years, before deciding to branch out and explore other disciplines. In 2018 I completed my masters in design at the Oslo School of Architecture and design, where I explored building new futures methodologies and integrating them into agile workflows at Scandinavia's largest publishing house. Today, as part of Designit's Futures team, I get play with integrating futures methods into our normal project work while spending my time as a User Experience designer and researcher.
Chiara Lino
I have spent my adult life jumping from design to journalism, and then rolling back to design, each time bringing back with me something from the other discipline. As a UX Lead at Designit, I do my best to look closely not only at the _whats_, but also at the _whys_ and _hows_ of our discipline, trying to push the boundaries of critical approach to what we build and enable.