IFTF Design Futures is an interactive training that combines core concepts of futures thinking with design and narrative theory. Participants will learn innovative approaches to designing and communicating foresight for immediate application and impact.
Session 1 | Introduction
In this introductory session, we dive into Design Futures with immersive activities to get you creating future objects right away.
Session 2 | Orient & Prepare
This session focuses on the fundamentals of Design Futures, with a lecture to situate ourselves in the field. We learn and practice two tools from the Prepare section of the Design Futures toolkit, with breakout sessions within small groups and learning pairs to practice the tools and apply them to group and personal projects.
Session 3 | Explore & Experience
In Session 3, we bring our futures to life! We cover both the Explore and Experience sections of the toolkit, where we learn the fundamentals of worldbuilding and storytelling (Explore), and then put these concepts into practice as we create a scene and learn how to create artifacts from the future (Experience). We also learn some tricks of the trade, hearing from experienced design futurists on design principles.
Session 4 | Execute & New Frameworks
Participants learn about Systems Mythology, a framework for understanding and communicating the meaning behind the design of the new systems we are building. We also learn the final tools from the Execute section of our toolkit: Futuring a New Offering and Design Your Project. These tools bring us from the future into the present, providing actionable processes for creating a new future-oriented service or offering.
Session 5 | Applied Design Futures
In our final session, participants work in small groups, alongside an experienced IFTF practitioner, to share and workshop their personal projects. We discuss when and how the tools we've learned throughout the course are best applied and combined. We end with our expert facilitators sharing their own experiences, giving concrete and inspiring examples of Design Futures projects.