We designers are optimistic to a fault. We believe we can build something better and will take great leaps of faith to prove it. But we’d be fools to claim that we can always see what’s coming around the bend. Never trust anyone who says they can predict the future.
Nevertheless, we have launched ourselves into the unknown for decades. Joining a long history of science fiction, this is an exercise in speculative design, where we build on early signals we’re picking up and ask, “What if?” At times, our speculation about the future has come across as a little too naive and niche, like when we proposed stamping fruit with the full FDA nutrition label or suggested a fixie-inspired walker for senior hipsters. But when we’ve set our…