"All designs begin as fictions. As odd as it may seem, make-believe is how things come to be. Both past deeds and future dreams inspire people in the present."

- Scott Doorley and Carissa Carter in "Assembling Tomorrow: A Guide to Designing a Thriving Future" from the Stanford d.school

WHAT WE ARE DOING

WHY WE ARE DOING IT

You will imagine a project from a reverse time capsule that comes from your imagined future

To experience AI collaboration and speculative design to envision projects of future

The design process will include four steps:

THE PROCESS

Analyze projects developed under the 2030 vision to understand how they envisioned the future.

Precedent Research

Imagine projects and key elements that might exist in the year 2060

Brainstorm Scenarios

Define essential dynamics, features, and user experiences for these future projects, then generate AI-based visual representations of them.

AI Visioning

A good example of signals are "the launch of chatGPT" or "the fall of the iconic tunnel tree redwood" and good examples of drivers would be "artificial intelligence" or "climate change"

Create a prototype of your envisioned project, ensuring it effectively communicates its aesthetic, functionality, and user experience.

Artifact of the Future

Then, identify signals (glimpses of the future we already see today) and drivers (what made the signal possible)



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A precedent is a project done in the real world that can be used to help explain some of the ideas that will be covered in the studio or project.

Students should locate and critically evaluate precedents and demonstrate how the content of the relate to their projects.

Precedents generally fall into a number of categories:

CONCEPTUAL

ASPIRATIONAL

COMPARABLE

Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 is an ambitious plan to transform the nation by fostering innovation, sustainability, and economic growth. It presents a forward-thinking approach to key areas such as technology, infrastructure, and the environment. By analyzing projects and initiatives aligned with Vision 2030, we can gain insight into how the future is being shaped today. This research will serve as a starting point to imagine life in 2060.

Precedent Research

1.



Entertainment & Culture

Health

Transportation

Energy & Sustainability

Precedent Research

Individually:

Have a look at "Vision 2030" projects/designs in the Precedents tab of the studio..

Choose 1 precedent and sketch / write what you find inspiring or thought-provoking.

15 mins

1.

1 - ENCOURAGE WILD IDEAS

2 - SUSPEND JUDGMENT

4 - BUILD ON IDEAS

5 - BE VISUAL

3 - GO FOR QUANTITY

Wild ideas can often give rise to creative leaps.

Don’t shoot down someone else’s idea.

Aim for as many ideas as possible.

Build and expand on the ideas of others.

Sketch your ideas.

Brainstorm Scenarios

You are going to imagine Saudi Arabia in the year 2060, a world far beyond Vision 2030. Think about how technology, society, and the environment might evolve over the next 40 years. Use the current innovations and goals of Vision 2030 as a foundation to explore a more futuristic world.

Future of Leisure & Culture

Think of a favorite leisure hobby

• How might technologies make traditional hobbies, like gaming or sports, more immersive or interactive?
• Could personal holograms or AI companions replace or enhance human interaction in leisure settings?
• Could leisure travel expand beyond Earth to include lunar vacations or deep-space exploration, offering cultural experiences in space?

Future of Transport (Mobility)

Think of your current way of moving in the city, imagine how people will move in 2060, what will the urban landscape look like in 2060, and how will transportation integrate with this?

• Flying Autonomous Tunnels
• Quantum Transport Pods
• Hyperloop Cities
• Teleportation Stations

Consider energy sources: solar, fusion, wind, or even human-generated power.

Future of Urban Life (Residential & Work)

Think about your current living or working environment.

• How will urban areas combine living, work, and leisure seamlessly?
• How will future homes be smarter, more sustainable, and adaptable?
• What will workspaces look like with AI and flexible design?

2.

Brainstorm Projects

In groups of two or three and discuss your ideas. Together, select one future project from the three proposed themes to continue working on. You are going to collaborate for the rest of the Design Sprint to design and build a prototype of this object.

Start with sketching together to clarify your concept and think about aspect of the future project's form and function.

2.

20 mins

Future of TRANSPORT

PROJECT EXAMPLE:

In this example, the student sketched three different ideas for how a single person might travel through the city in the future. After brainstorming these ideas, she chose the second concept to pursue.

The idea involves single-person elevator pods that travel horizontally between city structures above the street level. This would allow for "micro-movements"-- moving the small pods to directed places, eliminating the inefficiency of half-full subway cars and removing the pain point element of vehicular traffic.

PROJECT EXAMPLE:

HORIZONTAL ELEVATOR PODS

AI Visioning

10 mins

3.

You are now going to use AI as a collaborator to bring your ideas about the future objects you've envisioned to life. You might generate a variety of images, but by the end of this activity, you should have one favorite image of your artifact that shows a clear idea of its form and function.

Computers with AI webpage loaded

AI Visioning MATERIALS

3.

Note: You can use ChatGPT/ Dall-E, Craiyon, Canva, or any other AI image generator that you are comfortable with.

Now enter your text prompt into the generator and see the results. If you are not happy with the images, you can click "regenerate." You can also refine your text prompt in several iterations to get closer to a design that matches your idea.

3.

AI Visioning ENTER THE PROMPT

PROJECT EXAMPLE:

HORIZONTAL ELEVATOR PODS

First Prompt/ Image output

"Make me an image of a horizontal elevator moving through a cityscape elevated off the ground level. It should be futuristic."

PROJECT EXAMPLE:

HORIZONTAL ELEVATOR PODS

"Make me a futuristic image that shows a way to move people around that includes a horizontal track for a single-person elevator pod that looks a bit like a futuristic phone booth going from building to building in a city above the street level on a series of tracks."

Second Prompt/ Image output

CARDBOARD TECHNIQUES: SHAPING

Bending

Scoring

Curving

Faceting

Layering

Hinging

CARDBOARD TECHNIQUES: JOINERY

Brads

Flanges

Brace

Skewer

Bend

Hinge

Slots

Butt Joint

Prototype your Artifact

45 mins

Using low-fidelity prototyping materials, create a model of the object you envisioned. Imagine that this object will be found in a time capsule from the future; what can you tell about that future world from the design of this relic?

Note:

• Your artifact may contain some ideas about technology in its design. For the purposes of this sprint, you can represent inputs and outputs without actually installing any technological components.
• The prototype should be bigger than your hand and smaller than your desktop, and be designed to show both your vision of the future and its functionality.

4.

ACTIVITY MATERIALS

Cardboard

Colored Acetate

Bristol Papers

Zip-ties

Straws

Metal Ruler

Pencil 

Markers 

Cutting Blade

Masking Tape

Hot Glue Gun

String

Brads

Popsicles and wooden skewers

PROJECT EXAMPLE:

PROJECT EXAMPLE:

ELEVATOR PODS

STUDENTS PAST PROJECTS:

Pods are futuristic, rocket-shaped vehicles that navigate the city through underwater tubes. They can separate into three cars to serve different destinations and later reconnect into a full pod before returning passengers to the surface.

STUDENTS PAST PROJECTS:

Hyperloop under the sea

STUDENTS PAST PROJECTS:

Hyperloop under the sea

STUDENTS PAST PROJECTS:

STUDENTS PAST PROJECTS:

STUDENTS PAST PROJECTS:

STUDENTS PAST PROJECTS:

Desk Critiques

Group Feedback

Kinds of Feedback

There are three forms of feedback. Understanding these can help us understand the conversations we have with our teams and improve our own ability to react to and use feedback to strengthen our designs.



Reaction-Based

Feedback

Direction-Based

Feedback

Question-based Feedback

X

X



Share & Reflect

15 mins



5.

We're now going to share what we've created with the group and get some feedback.

Show your initial sketches and project concept, AI images, and low-fidelity prototype.

End of Challenge!