16 Facts About Speculative design

Speculative design is a design practice that is concerned with future design proposals of a critical nature.

Speculative design is concerned with future consequences and implications of the relationship between science, technology, and humans.

Therefore, speculative design is used to challenge preconceptions, raise questions and to provoke debate.

Speculative design emphasizes the “philosophical inquiry into technological application”; it tends to take the discussion on technology beyond the experts to a broad population of the audience.

Speculative design can be distinguished from traditional design and affirmative design as the latter types are considered the conventional design that operates within the commercial borders where the aim of designing is profitability.

Speculative design is a form of critical design that is concerned with future proposals.

Speculative design is inspired by the attitude and position of the Italian radical design, yet does not necessarily imitate its format and motivations.

Motivation behind speculative design is defying the capitalist-driven design directions and to showcase how this negatively impacted the design practice.

Speculative design relies on speculation and proposition; its value comes from speculating about future scenarios where design is used in a particular context to showcase a notion or an idea of debate.

The most significant aim of speculative design is to enact change rather than conforming to the status quo.

Speculative design uses objects or prototypes that do imply implicit meanings about complex social and technological issues.

Speculative design can be seen as an attitude or position instead of a process or methodology.

Tactics, methods, and strategies for speculative design have wide variation depending on the required message to convey.

Speculative design has many adjacent practices that might seem similar in terms of format, medium, and dissemination style.

The most significant criticism for critical and speculative design would be based on the understanding that design is not functional or useful, so it cannot be considered as design.

The format and venues of presenting speculative design proposals do not imply a methodological approach for engaging with the audience and broader society.