Near Future Laboratory Blog
Thoughts, Reflections, Updates & Week Notes
Dec 21, 2015 – Dec 27, 2018
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End of the Year Swimsuit Spectacular Booklet
Dec 27, 2018
Do these selfies taken by two people who don’t know each other give us a glimpse of the future? Will the ever-increasing use of technological devices reconfigure our bodies? Will it affect our posture even in the most banal situations?
UncategorizedBookEthnography
Design Fiction at the Design Museum
Dec 11, 2018
This week we have taken over The Design Museum of London’s Instagram feed. We did this in coordination with the publication of our Ikea Catalog (of the Near Future) for The Design Museum’s current exhibition, “Home Futures” — running until March 2019.
Design Fiction
Hello from the Design Museum
Nov 12, 2018
The Design Museum (London) has just opened their Home Futures exhibition. Our Ikea Catalog From The Near Future (2015) is on exhibition, with physical copies for museum visitors to peruse and take home.
Design FictionDesign for ImplicationsProjects
Hello World. This is Próximo.
Oct 11, 2018
Ever since the slow death of Dopplr after its acquisition by Nokia a decade ago, the internet has lacked a dedicated space for people to casually share their travel intentions. Back in those days, it was also a feature of trip planning services like TripIt which since then pivoted to booking management for frequent…
AnnouncementMapsSocial Practice
Julian Bleecker lecturing at Stanford University
Nov 28, 2017
I gave a lecture at Stanford's CS547 course on HCI, and of course it was on'Design Fiction.' This is interesting to listen back on as I forgot about the examples I used 'early on' that came specifically from film. This was during the 'diegetic prototype' emphasis of things. Drawing on examples from films like 'Jurassic Park' and '2001: A Space Odyssey,' I showed how storytelling and these diegetic prototypes help communicate complex, speculative, often futuristic concepts. I describe the cultural impact of Design Fiction on technological perception and legal precedents, particularly in relation to augmented reality and user interfaces. Practical projects such as the Quick Start Guide for a Self-Driving Car help highlight the importance of making emerging technologies accessible. Examining material culture, leaning on humor and satire is highlighted as useful ways to engage with future possibilities.
talklecturedesign fictionvideo
TV Control instruction for my fictional AirBnb guests. Courtesy of Nick Foster.
Oct 16, 2016
Or how the observations of mundane technological glitches and frictions offer a complementary form of inspiration to the multitude of glamorous utopian design visions.
ObservationsPamphlets
OMATA
Mar 20, 2016
Enough curious things and publications and prototypes and robot news and VLOGS are currently happening in our different bureaux that we need to issue a dispatch with a note from each of us.
algorithmbothumanshygieneomataProjects
A fictional Humans ad suggesting a better practice of ‘data hygiene’
Jan 11, 2016
Most connected humans suffer from poor ‘data hygiene’. For instance, we are plainly grotesquely overfed on social media with its ‘anytime’ ‘anywhere’ experience and there is no rational end in sight. In this article, I introduce the reasons why I developed Humans, an app that offers a way to rationally manage too ma…
algorithmDesign FictionDesign TechnologyHCIhygieneInterfaceProjectsuser experience
DSC01857
Dec 21, 2015
It has never been so easy to build things and throw them into people’s pockets, bags, phones, homes, cars. Almost inevitably — with this abundance of ‘solutions’ — it has never been so easy to get caught in the hyperbolic discourses of perpetual technological disruptions with their visions of flawless connectivity a…
Design FictionDesign TechnologyHCIInteraction DesignInterface DesignPost-GUIUncategorizeduser experience