Beyond Speculative Design: Past – Present – Future

by Ingi Helgason, Ivica Mitrović, Julian Hanna

Genres: Design

Unknown Binding

Reviews

[chirpingwrens · Rating 5 out of 5]

"So we need to turn to love, compassion, and care, to treasure and heal those around us, because without imagination, there is no hope, no chance to envision a better future, no place to go, no goal to reach'"

I read this after being extremely dissatisfied with Speculative Everything and - WOW - what a breath of fresh air! Almost every critique that I had for Speculative Everything were addressed from points of incorporation of critical theories, access of who is involved in speculating/dreaming, parody as a valid form of speculation, and etc. This definitely is a much more nuanced, critical text that also has bonuses of addressing myths of design education, and benefits of speculative design on current system of design education. As a designer and avid reader of queer and critical disability justice texts, I was glad to see themes of social justice and equity remain palpable throughout. I still wish I saw more references to access and disability justice and other critical theory texts, but so many translative aspects of access and disability justice principles were present, and I'm excited to apply what I learned about speculative practices in my own disability justice design/dreaming practices (which honestly align so much with principle of anti-capitalistic politics). Perhaps one of the "future paths" of speculative design is humbly learning more from disability justice, and from other forms of social justice movements.

I liked how the authors addressed the current critiques of speculative design. To speculate is to have privilege, and there remains the difficult gap between speculation and action. Other texts like Speculative Futures (Hoffman) didn't really address this point of how to translate speculation into action for me, and I'm glad that it was acknowledged here. For me, this translation is especially rooted in shift of design values from the individual to a collective & collaborative processes.

One piece of critique(?): I wish there were more guidance and call-out on design's history as a exploitative processes on marginalized communities, and also a clear set of structural principles and guidance on how to conduct equitable design practices. I see many design students who use their school projects as opportunities to explore participatory design processes with marginalized communities, often with unfair compensation/equity, and with empty promises of follow-ups. In my own first-hand experience of being hard of hearing, and being asked to participate in numerous design research from people I rarely talk to whose design research goals is attempting to "fix" my disability to "be more productive and abled" in our current society, I think designers need to understand the current status quo as well as delve into more critical literature if they wish to mindfully practice speculative design. This to me means 1) volunteering in nonprofit organizations and 2) thinking of ways to give back to the community that they are conducting research with, even before they begin their design processes. This isn't specific to speculative design, but with such emphasis on equitable speculative practices, I wished there were more "guidelines" and/or "tips." Perhaps also this is a more general critique on design programs also (e.g., courses not giving enough time for testing and implementing designs near end of terms, not having a dedicated course for equity in design research, etc.).

Overall, great book! Will be referencing this as I work on my own design projects moving forwards :)