Assembling Tomorrow: A Guide to Designing a Thriving Future from the Stanford d.school

by Scott Doorley, Carissa Carter, Stanford d.school

A powerful guide to why even the most well-intentioned innovations go haywire, and the surprising ways we can change course to create a more positive future, by two celebrated experts working at the intersection of design, technology, and learning at Stanford University’s acclaimed d.school.

In Assembling Tomorrow, authors Scott Doorley and Carissa Carter explore the intangible forces that prevent us from anticipating just how fantastically technology can get out of control, and what might be in store for us if we don’t start using new tools and tactics. Despite our best intentions, our most transformative innovations tend to have consequences we can’t always predict. From the effects of social media to the uncertainty of AI and the consequences of climate change, the outcomes of our creations ripple across our lives. Time and again, our seemingly ceaseless capacity to create rubs up against our limited capacity to understand our impact.

Assembling Tomorrow explores how to use readily accessible tools to both mend the mistakes of our past and shape our future for the better. We live in an era of “runaway design,” where innovations tangle with our lives in unpredictable ways. This book explores the off-­­kilter feelings of today and follows up with actionables to alter your perspective and help you find opportunities in these turbulent times.

Mixed throughout are histories of the future, short pieces of speculative fiction that imagine the future as if it has already happened and consider the past with a critical yet hopeful eye so that all of us—as designers of our own futures—can create a better world for generations to come.

Genres: Design, Philosophy, Nonfiction

320 pages, Hardcover

Published June 18, 2024

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have some very mixed feelings. When it was good, it was VERY good. When it was bad, it was VERY bad. Environmental impact was used as an example so many times that it started to hinder my ability to see other applications, which undermines the very purpose of the book. The narrative sections from the future seemed like a great idea, but the first one was so overwhelmingly emotional it felt more like manipulation and less like helpful examples or illustrations. In the end, I think there are very good ideas and thinking patterns, but you have to be willing to wade through a lot of unhelpful material to find them.

[JoAnna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been looking for books that challenge what I think I know I know and push me to consider different ways of being, living, acting, working, and playing in this world, and this book hit all the right notes. The layout is fantastic with a wide variety of imagery, storytelling, questions to ponder, and unusual ways of presenting content and ideas relating to the ripple effects of what we create and how we act. This book is written with a perspective of people working with the design school at Stanford, so the emphasis is heavily on creation of physical items and technology. Coming from the work I do, I would have liked more discussion and reflection around the creation of experiences as well.

[Darya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the books that is quite difficult to name as for its purpose. It is multifacet because of the way it made me feel and think after reading it. For me this was the way to reflect after each chapter and imagine the way future will be in terms of society, technology, business, objects we use and things we are used to. The journey throughout this book brings you examples from the past and ignited your imagination of what can possibly happen in the future. The emotions after reading are like using an imaginary timemachine that allows your fantasy to travel free.
Don't forget! Come back to your Review on the pub date, 18 Jun 2024, to post

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that changes the way you look at... well, everything. I really enjoyed the mix of speculative scifi stories and actionables that I can try in my own life. Some of the takeaways I had were that it's OK to bring my feelings to work -- they can be a source of innovation and creativity; playing make believe isn't just for kids and may just save the world; that designers and the questions they ask need to be part of our plan for the future. This is a brilliant book -- beautifully designed with original illustrations.

[Irene · Rating 2 out of 5]

I suppose I was looking for a more scientific approach to why seemingly good ideas often end up causing more problems than they solve. Instead, I read page after page of vague, philosophical musings that didn't teach me anything, didn't explain anything, and didn't resolve anything. The interspersed stories were...odd. This might have made a decent magazine article, but it was obviously padded with extraneous stories, drawings, and filler material. A disappointment.

[Rachelle Bugeaud · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the make up of this book: a mix of non fiction chapters followed by a short fiction piece of the future, all of it on colour coded paper.

Some of the non fiction sections had me a bit lost and felt quite abstract whereas others resonated deeply, so yea. Maybe closer to a 3.75/5.

All in all beautiful book with whimsical illustrations and a good mix of design and futures thinking.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s a lot to love about this book. I read the ebook and wished I had the paper copy in order to flip through. I meticulously read every piece of design fiction and some was great but I really didn’t need all of it.

[Priyanka Karuvelil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great use of stories and fiction to drive further understanding of all kinds of things that will impact the future - AI, gene editing, blockchain, to call out a few. Like with most good books on design, worth coming back to again and again.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Remarkably light on content. I'm surprised Stanford's name is in the title, but maybe they don't have any control over that.

[Megan McKellar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this on Audible. This book explores the principle of runaway design and posits a series of future design consequence scenarios.

[Lee Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous book in the Tufte tradition.

[Justin Elszasz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't quite understand what the point of this book was.

[Guerdon Ligon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool things to think on, some pretty reasonable ideas and advice. Well cited information. Wish they had more to say somehow… All together it’s pretty good, and worth the time.

[Renée Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book and savored it. I have lots of notes, page flags, and new things to check out. I haven't been this excited about a systems design book in a long time.

This book is about designing systems and of the concept of "runaway design" in particular. Runaway designs are those that get away from us, and become very hard to deal with once they're created. The authors expand on this topic and many others related to systems building, design and engineering. I loved every chapter. It's interspersed with fictional short stores "Histories of the Future" which illustrates some of the thought experiments outlined in the book. 5/5, high recommend to my systems design and engineering friends, particularly those with an ecological focus.