Office Hours Side Projects N°265

Office Hours Side Projects Edition N°265: Museums, Small Businesses, and Speculative Design

In this session of Office Hours Side Projects Edition N°265, we dive into an engaging Zoom meet-up where three participants, Jordan, Guiliana, and Isabella, share their fascinating side projects.

Jordan discusses his vision for a speculative design studio aimed at aiding small businesses in San Francisco, sparking a rich discussion on practical applications and community engagement.

Guiliana presents her innovative ‘Apple Puff’ project, an exploration into future design and speculative thinking as it applies to consumer products, leading to insightful feedback on storytelling and conceptual depth.

Isabella introduces her ‘Lab for Radical Museum Futures’ focusing on using design fiction to reimagine the future operations and missions of museums, which inspired thoughts on expanding the framework of future thinking in the cultural sector.

As always, the presentations aof the side projects are short and sharp — so we have plenty of time for discussion, feedback, some generative brainstorming, and to keep things light.

This is not a pitch session: rather, it’s a platform for participants in the Near Future Laboratory community to share work, especially their side projects, whether they are in the early stages of ideation, operhaps an old project being pulled out for nostalgia’s sake — or something fresh that needs help with product development, design, or strategy.

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00:00 Introduction and Casual Conversation

00:50 Discussion on Holidays and Work Schedules

02:13 Office Hours and Side Projects Introduction

03:26 Shula’s Presentation on Speculative Design

13:01 Feedback and Discussion on Shula’s Project

35:35 Jordan’s Introduction and Project Pitch

47:12 Future Art Supply Shopping Experience

48:57 Exploring Market Street Events

51:37 Small Business Futures

54:51 Challenges and Opportunities for Small Businesses

01:10:02 Design Futures for Museums

Chat Transcript

00:01:56  Dré Labre:  Hi, I’m transcribing this call with my Tactiq AI Extension: https://tactiq.io/r/transcribing
00:03:47  Isabella Bruno:  Beautiful
00:06:17  Isabella Bruno:  YAY
00:06:21  Scott Paterson:  https://oio.studio/
00:14:21  Jordan Fitzgerald:  Great Work!!!
00:19:59  Scott Paterson:  +1 to Dre….reminds me of projects like this Do Hit chair:
http://www.marijnvanderpoll.com/2021/09/24/120/
But not as clear to me what is your critique…maybe it needs to be more absurd and/or uncanny…it is more an issue to edit some of the elements to speak more clearly.
00:22:24  Scott Paterson:  Anushka your audio is delayed and garbled
00:25:12  Anushka Shinde:  the sticker acts as a hook
00:25:55  Marc B:  https://www.amazon.ca/Strangely-Familiar-Design-Everyday-Life/dp/0935640754
00:25:58  Isabella Bruno:  Reacted to "https://www.amazon.c..." with ❤️
00:26:03  Billy Ho (he/him):  Reacted to "https://www.amazon.c..." with ❤️
00:26:10  Isabella Bruno:  2003
00:26:21  Anushka Shinde:  Reacted to "https://www.amazon.c..." with ❤️
00:29:37  Jordan Fitzgerald:  Reacted to "https://www.amazon.c..." with ❤️
00:30:38  Lorax:  “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not,”
00:33:02  Julian Bleecker:  Replying to "“Unless someone like..."

What's that from?
00:33:04  Isabella Bruno:  NO MUST BE FAMILAR NOT SUPER DESIGNY
00:33:13  Lorax:  Replying to "“Unless someone like..."

The Lorax
00:35:33  Anushka Shinde:  also my thoughts are going back to the sticker. It is an apple, except its 5 TIMES BIGGER. Scale itself is adding novelty to it and bigger the apple bigger the sticker, bigger the sticker, louder the emphsis. Just a thought
00:35:42  Scott Paterson:  A vignette
00:36:18  Giula Passarelli:  Reacted to "also my thoughts are..." with ❤️
00:36:34  Giula Passarelli:  Reacted to "“Unless someone like..." with ❤️
00:38:52  Lorax:  Big fan of this style
00:40:00  Isabella Bruno:  Hope you can present THAT next time
00:40:38  Lorax:  Mansa Musa?
00:42:49  Isabella Bruno:  I dropped off the meeting and I might have missed Jordan say who the audience is for this pitch?  Directly to small business owners or to nonprofit funders?
00:44:58  Marc B:  I have no other vices… so books are my problem
00:45:04  Isabella Bruno:  Reacted to "I have no other vice..." with 💯
00:45:16  Marcello Picone:  I have to run unfortunately. This has been great. Thank you for letting me be part of this group. I’ll be back again!
00:45:20  Isabella Bruno:  I count books among my vices ha
00:45:21  Camille MacRae:  need to drop - thank you to our presenters! Love seeing the work and how you're approaching these issues
00:47:08  Scott Paterson:  Not sure if you want this, but these are some folks who might like to know what you’re up to: https://www.iftf.org/people/lonny-brooks/
00:47:18  Scott Paterson:  https://colloqate.org/people
00:47:24  Scott Paterson:  https://mobilemakers.org/
00:47:29  Isabella Bruno:  Replying to "https://colloqate.or..."

Collogate is amazing
00:53:57  Scott Paterson:  https://oaklandartmurmur.org/first-friday/
00:54:23  sebcampos@gmail.com:  Jordan! love this, futures from the ground up!
00:55:22  sebcampos@gmail.com:  It makes me think of an artifact of the Laundromat, it shows what it looks like today, and what it looked like say 30 years ago. Next slide is a blank page to draw the laundromat 30 years into the future.
00:57:00  Scott Paterson:  https://www.businessinsider.com/instagram-couple-model-forgotten-laundromat-clothes-2020-8#the-couple-has-been-operating-wansho-laundry-ever-since-they-got-married-in-1959-2
00:57:40  Scott Paterson:  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53522480
00:58:37  sebcampos@gmail.com:  Reacted to "https://www.business..." with ❤️
00:58:49  sebcampos@gmail.com:  Replying to "https://www.business..."

"Wan-Ji and Hsu's biggest piece of style advice is to avoid getting wrapped up in the latest trends."
00:58:51  Isabella Bruno:  I love that place
00:59:07  Isabella Bruno:  https://open-editions.com/
00:59:45  Scott Paterson:  https://open-editions.com/
00:59:50  Scott Paterson:  Haha, oops
01:00:39  Lorax:  It’s hard to tie your shoes when you’re standing in a hole
01:00:43  sebcampos@gmail.com:  Its a privilege to think about the future, for sure!
01:02:14  Marc B:  But what happens after the brain storm? In addition to being tornados do we also have to be (a working version of) FEMA.
01:04:06  Andrew Korf:  Jordan - I have friend who owns a laundromat here in the city
01:04:11  Lorax:  How about getting a few dozen people doing their laundry with a washboard and basin on the street
01:04:23  Isabella Bruno:  Reacted to "Jordan - I have frie..." with 😍
01:04:25  Andrew Korf:  We for sure could do something interesting there
01:04:47  Lorax:  “Wish there was a laundromat..."
01:05:05  sebcampos@gmail.com:  A question I really like to ask participants at some point in the interview is the magic wand question. If you had a magic wand and could fix things instantly, what would you fix? I feel like the magic part opens up peoples imagination a little bit. allow them to leave what constrains them behind for a second.
01:07:29  Lorax:  I love what I never see
01:08:43  Brian Sherwin:  Exhibit idea from Julian is nice. This could generate unique publicity for the laundromat. Create more name recognition and traffic for the business. Way to pitch the “business” angle to the laundromat.
01:09:53  Isabella Bruno:  The Laundromat Project is a great organization to look at for Inspo: https://laundromatproject.org/
01:10:40  Scott Paterson:  Sorry I gotta go. Have a great weekend.
01:10:48  Lorax:  Reacted to "The Laundromat Proje..." with 🏆
01:10:51  Jordan Fitzgerald:  Reacted to "The Laundromat Proje..." with 🏆
01:11:32  Julian Bleecker:  These folks are in Oakland, very futures-oriented and they also do curious installations, like their Lit.Vendingmachine..I could see it installed in places like a Laundromat: https://sistahscifi.com/pages/sistah-scifi-vending-machine
01:12:38  Jordan Fitzgerald:  Reacted to "These folks are in O..." with 🎉
01:16:42  Mateusz Pozar:  Lovely projects – thanks for showing! I gotta bounce, have a good weekend all!
01:17:18  sebcampos@gmail.com:  Donation signage?
01:19:48  Dré Labre:  good show n tell today ... i have to go. see you later.
01:21:32  Andrew Korf:  Reacted to "good show n tell tod..." with 👍
01:21:40  Andrew Korf:  Reacted to "These folks are in O..." with 🎉
01:21:43  Andrew Korf:  Reacted to "These folks are in O..." with 👍
01:22:05  Anushka Shinde:  my network is unstable…it’s a shame but I might have to leave. But hey it was great seeing all the works!
01:22:13  Andrew Korf:  Replying to "These folks are in O..."

I love idea of adding interesting vending machines to laundromats
01:22:25  Andrew Korf:  Replying to "These folks are in O..."

The objects we saw last week for example 🙂
01:22:57  Julian Bleecker:  Reacted to "my network is unstab..." with 🤟🏽
01:24:39  Lorax:  http://evogeneao.com/en
01:26:26  Lorax:  Who Dat?
01:27:22  Andrew Korf:  I have to run, ill try to rejoin if I can
01:27:41  Andrew Korf:  @Jordan Fitzgerald  here is my contact info: 612 669 5398
01:34:48  Brian Sherwin:  Just in case anyone is interested in the car brands residential projects - https://www.dezeen.com/2023/06/07/luxury-car-brands-residential-houses-skyscrapers/
01:36:16  Lorax:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_the_Infinite_Two_Minutes
01:38:08  Isabella Bruno:  Thanks all!