Exploring Speculative Design with Anab Jain of Superflux

Yesterday’s masterclass with Anab Jain, Co-founder & Director at Superflux, was centered around the concept of speculative design and its potential to help us navigate the complex and unprecedented challenges of the polycrisis we are living through today. Rather than approaching problems with a siloed, rationalist mindset, speculative design empowers us to consider plural possibilities and to expand our understanding of the wider contexts, ecologies, and implications of our work.

Anab, drawing on her experience with Superflux, gave participants a glimpse into the history and practice of speculative design, as well as the theoretical and practical frameworks it builds upon. She encouraged designers to trust in imagination and attention as a means of unlocking latent possibilities, and to develop practices that allow us to expose ourselves and engage with the world.

The masterclass concluded with a short exercise in which participants were asked to imagine themselves in the future, 25 years from now. They were then asked to bring back a souvenir from that future, in the form of a sketch, photograph, or short story. Participants shared their visions of the future, considering trends and extrapolations from the present day, as well as the impact of changing weather, societal values, geopolitical shifts, and more. Through this exercise, Anab encouraged attendees to consider how critical thinking and an awareness of new possibilities can be empowering, and how speculative design can help us develop plural responses and make transformative change.