Speculative Everything, With a new preface by the authors
Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming
By Anthony Dunne, Fiona Raby | Publisher: MIT Press
About the book
How to use design as a tool to create not only things but ideas, to speculate about possible futures.
Today designers often focus on making technology easy to use, sexy, and consumable. In Speculative Everything, Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby propose a kind of design that is used as a tool to create not only things but ideas. For them, design is a means of speculating about how things could be—to imagine possible futures. This is not the usual sort of predicting or forecasting, spotting trends and extrapolating; these kinds of predictions have been proven wrong, again and again. Instead, Dunne and Raby pose “what if” questions that are intended to open debate and discussion about the kind of future people want (and do not want).
Speculative Everything offers a tour through an emerging cultural landscape of design ideas, ideals, and approaches. Dunne and Raby cite examples from their own design and teaching and from other projects from fine art, design, architecture, cinema, and photography. They also draw on futurology, political theory, the philosophy of technology, and literary fiction. They show us, for example, ideas for a solar kitchen restaurant; a flypaper robotic clock; a menstruation machine; a cloud-seeding truck; a phantom-limb sensation recorder; and devices for food foraging that use the tools of synthetic biology. Dunne and Raby contend that if we speculate more—about everything—reality will become more malleable. The ideas freed by speculative design increase the odds of achieving desirable futures.
Editions of Speculative Everything, With a new preface by the authors
- Hardcover
- ISBN 9780262019842
- Paperback
- ISBN 9780262548687
- EBook
- ISBN 9780262318495
- EBook
- ISBN 9780262318501
- EBook
- ISBN 9780262318518
Read an Excerpt
How to use design as a tool to create not only things but ideas, to speculate about possible futures.
Today designers often focus on making technology easy to use, sexy, and consumable. In Speculative Everything, Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby propose a kind of design that is used as a tool to create not only things but ideas. For them, design is a means of speculating about how things could be—to imagine possible futures. This is not the usual sort of predicting or forecasting, spotting trends and extrapolating; these kinds of predictions have been proven wrong, again and again. Instead, Dunne and Raby pose “what if” questions that are intended to open debate and discussion about the kind of future people want (and do not want).
Speculative Everything offers a tour through an emerging cultural landscape of design ideas, ideals, and approaches. Dunne and Raby cite examples from their own design and teaching and from other projects from fine art, design, architecture, cinema, and photography. They also draw on futurology, political theory, the philosophy of technology, and literary fiction. They show us, for example, ideas for a solar kitchen restaurant; a flypaper robotic clock; a menstruation machine; a cloud-seeding truck; a phantom-limb sensation recorder; and devices for food foraging that use the tools of synthetic biology. Dunne and Raby contend that if we speculate more—about everything—reality will become more malleable. The ideas freed by speculative design increase the odds of achieving desirable futures.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Speculative Everything, With a new preface by the authors about?
How to use design as a tool to create not only things but ideas, to speculate about possible futures.
Today designers often focus on making technology easy to use, sexy, and consumable. In Speculative Everything, Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby propose a kind of design that is used as a tool to create not only things but ideas. For them, design is a means of speculating about how things could be—to imagine possible futures. This is not the usual sort of predicting or forecasting, spotting trends and extrapolating; these kinds of predictions have been proven wrong, again and again. Instead, Dunne and Raby pose “what if” questions that are intended to open debate and discussion about the kind of future people want (and do not want).
Speculative Everything offers a tour through an emerging cultural landscape of design ideas, ideals, and approaches. Dunne and Raby cite examples from their own design and teaching and from other projects from fine art, design, architecture, cinema, and photography. They also draw on futurology, political theory, the philosophy of technology, and literary fiction. They show us, for example, ideas for a solar kitchen restaurant; a flypaper robotic clock; a menstruation machine; a cloud-seeding truck; a phantom-limb sensation recorder; and devices for food foraging that use the tools of synthetic biology. Dunne and Raby contend that if we speculate more—about everything—reality will become more malleable. The ideas freed by speculative design increase the odds of achieving desirable futures.
What core themes, tropes, or subjects are explored in Speculative Everything, With a new preface by the authors?
The Arts > Design, Industrial and commercial arts, illustration > Product design
Where can I read a sample of Speculative Everything, With a new preface by the authors?
You can read an official preview of the few pages here https://www.book2look.com/book/9780262019842
Who is/are the Author/s of the book Speculative Everything, With a new preface by the authors?
Anthony Dunne, Fiona Raby
Who is the Publisher of the book Speculative Everything, With a new preface by the authors?
MIT Press
What are the ISBN numbers for the physical and digital editions?
Speculative Everything, With a new preface by the authors is available as hardcover(ISBN 9780262019842) and paperback(ISBN 9780262548687) and ebook(ISBN 9780262318495) and ebook(ISBN 9780262318501) and ebook(ISBN 9780262318518)
Where can I buy Speculative Everything, With a new preface by the authors online or support local independent bookshops?
You can buy Speculative Everything, With a new preface by the authors from below
Where can I buy Speculative Everything, With a new preface by the authors?