Assignment for Design Futures class

1. IMAGES OF THE FUTURE
Daniel Riveong | Design Futures | Dr. Cindy Frewen | 13 July 2017

2. Six Families of the Future
The way design futures is applied to these
images is based on evoking emotion,
providing tangible visuals, and attempt to
make humans literally the center and
engaged in these images.
There are six families of the future (Dator,
49) being used in these images. The focus
of the images somewhere between 30-40
years into the future (2047-57).
Environmental
Sustainability
High-
Technology
Transformation
Spiritual
Transcendence
Ideological
Exclusion
Business
as Usual
Collapse /
Reversal

3. Business as Usual

4. Business as Usual means
a continually raising
Asia as Europe continues
to be stagnant.
But emotionally it means a shift in
personal power relationships.
A European woman is no longer
automatically better off than a
Singaporean or Shanghainese
women.
1

5. The shift away from the West as a
sole dominant culture will open
ways for non-Western aesthetics to
be seen as equally modern and
sophisticated.
It means more non-European &
non-Asian imagery that is
powerful, modern, sophisticated,
yet not necessarily European
influenced.
2

6. Business As Usual means letting
human industry and climate change
take its course. Remember the Paris
Accords is not legally binding.
The meeting between nature (the
water) and human industry (the city
to the military helicopter) shows the
inevitable clash.
3

7. Environmental Sustainability

8. Environmental Sustainability will
mean the harmonization of the new
and old way of doing things.
The textures of the wood, the use of
paint, and water color is organic,
rustic, old world and contrast against
the sleek phone of metal and glass.
4

9. People say they want change, but
how many people change
themselves?
In this image, people have changed
their material expectation and their
expectations on how to build a
sustainable environment.
5

10. 6
Environmental Sustainability
will mean a change in our
lifestyle, including production
and consumption.
This SPARK Architect’s design
shows a living community,
without cars, with multiple
generations, and with urban
farming.

11. Ideological Exclusion

12. Group-based ideologies – be it
religion, ethnic or the nation state –
are powerful tools to build solidarity.
The images show women,
determined and defiant with their
weapons, as they march with their
flag. It’s a clichéd symbol of
nationalism that’s still evocative.
7

13. 8
Community is seen as a key moral
value. But a community can also limit
dissent and sharpen divisions against
the ’other.’
In this photo, the community builds a
barn for a family. Their lack of
individuality demonstrate their solidarity
and also their potential enforcement of
ideological exclusion.

14. 9
In this mock-up, the augment reality
glasses makes sure the wearer will
be prevented from seeing
uncovered women.
This is a vivid example of how even
a mundane interaction – such as
talking to a person – can be
significantly altered by
technological-empowered ideology.

15. High Technology Transformation

16. In the high technology scenario,
the digital world becomes an
integral part of our physical
senses: sight, sound, smell, touch,
and taste.
The image shows a playful
integration of the classic Super
Mario game into the routine of a
morning jog.
10

17. High Technology will challenge our
concepts about how things will be
made.
The images shows war drones
being grown, challenging our
concept of war. We see war
machines grown (like a flower), not
made (like a WW2 tank).
11

18. High-Technology Transformation
promises a world where all
environmental to social issues are
solved via technocratic means.
From jetpacks to an upside
garden, Tomorrowland asks us to
dream about a technology-driven
aspirational future.
12

19. Spiritual Transformation

20. Spiritual Transformation will
include reexamining our human
relationships as part of building a
new world.
Here, we see a community in an
urban setting, where a group
massage occurs before a
morning exercise.
It’s urban but a close community
at the same time.
13

21. Cuba was accidentally on to
something. Instead of throwing things
away - reuse, fix, upgrade it.
A spiritual transformation would
include a transformation in our
relationship with stuff.
In such a world, young adults in
fashionable clothes would mix
seamlessly with 70 year cars.
14

22. Spiritual Transformation could be
manifested in a reinterpretation of
the medium and tools of spirituality
itself.
Accessible virtual reality and neuro-
stimulating wearbles could be the
catalyst for spiritual transformation.
The image asks us to wonder if one
can find meaning, meditate, and
build a spiritual community digitally.
15

23. Collapse

24. The world hasn’t collapsed to an
abyss, but there is global
inaction.
The shore is polluted with
garbage. There are makeshift
homes among the raising sea.
There’s nothing to do but to
watch it all happen,
uninterrupted.
16

25. Desolate.
Cold.
Dreary.
Collapse does not mean
Mad Max, sometimes its
about dislocation and
alienation.
17

26. Collapse does not mean
civil war, but unresolved
tension. Negative
extremes – from apathy
and riots – are common.
In this photo, we see a
chaotic scene of anger.
18

27. Image Sources

28. § Framework
1. Roads Less Travelled: Different Methods,
Different Futures by Andrew Curry, Wendy Shultz.
§ Business as Usual
1. Flipped and Switch, O Magazine:
http://www.konbini.com/us/inspiration/chris-buck-photo-
series-makes-powerful-statement-race-relations/
2. ‘Black Panther’ Trailer Breakdown: Welcome to
Wakanda:
http://www.slashfilm.com/black-panther-trailer-
breakdown-welcome-to-wakanda/
3. Creative Commons via Pixabay
https://pixabay.com/en/new-orleans-louisiana-81671/
§ Environmental Sustainability
4. Free License via Death to Stock Photos
5. Creative Commons via Flickr at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/inhabitat/10712775725/in/faves
-78147197@N00/
6. SPARK Architect via ArchDaily at
http://www.archdaily.com/573783/spark-proposes-vertical-
farming-hybrid-to-house-singapore-s-aging-population-2
§ Ideological Exclusion
7. Creative Commons via Wikipedia.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ballet_scene_at_the_Grea
t_Hall_of_the_People_attended_by_President_and_Mrs._Nixon_du
ring_their_trip_to_Peking,_China_-_NARA_-_194416.tif
8. From the film Witness, via
https://katecohen.net/2016/04/15/happy-barn-raising-day
9. Creative Commons via Daniel Riveonng using
Pixabay and Flickr: https://pixabay.com/en/niqab-veil-
woman-hooded-arabic-154968/,
https://pixabay.com/en/spectacles-glasses-eyeglasses-frame-
311831/
§ High Technology
10. Super Mario Bros Recreated as Life Size
Augmented Reality Game:
https://youtu.be/QN95nNDtxjo
11. UK Defense Firm BAE Systems Wants to
“Grow” Drones in Vats with Chemical 3D
Printing
https://3dprint.com/141144/bae-systems-grow-drones/
12. Tomorrowland film via PixelatedGeek.com at
http://pixelatedgeek.com/2015/05/review-tomorrowland/
§ Spiritual Transformation
13. Creative Commons via Flickr at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisgold/8480954800/in/faves-
93947989@N03/
14. Free License via Death to Stock Photos
15. Via https://i.ytimg.com/vi/wfe2qu84lDM/maxresdefault.jpg
§ Collapse
16. The Future Weird: Black Atlantis:
http://derica.tumblr.com/post/59132881370/at-8pm-on-
monday-26th-august-spectacle
17. Free License via Death to Stock Photos
18. Creative Commons via Flickr at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/iralifack/6028235190/in/faves-
78147197@N00/