IMAGINING THE UNIMAGINABLE
CLIENT
Learning Community Urban Interaction Design
THE TEAM
Bharat | Nupur Priya
DURATION
4 weeks
CATEGORY
Speculative Design | Story-telling | Concept Development
MY ROLE
Illustrator | Design strategist | Art direction
CONTEXT
Over the past decade, technologies are being implemented into the urban environment without knowing exactly how they will affect people and their environment. These changes already have a major impact on our behaviour and how we interact with each other. How can we give more direction to (future) use, design, and applications of new technologies in public space, so that we can be less surprised by unintended consequences?
THE OPEN CALL
The Learning Community Urban Interaction Design at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences called on individuals to create and submit a provocatype (provocative + prototype) based on one of the speculative scenarios in this open call. A selection of chosen artefacts would be exhibited at the ‘Imagining the Unimaginable’ event at SPUI25 in Amsterdam and published in an accompanying magazine.
You can read the scenario in detail here:
https://www.imaginingtheunimaginable.nl/scenarios/
THE SPECULATIVE PROCESS
We found the scenario called 'restaurants & retail are no more' to be the most interesting and decided to explore it. We attended workshop on speculative design where came across the 'forking' method to ideate scenarios and brainstormed into several directions.
Based on the forking stories, we ideated details of the story to create a holistic picture of our world. We came up with ideas on 6 factors of environment, background story, value system, life goals & objectives, language and system of relations to come up with ideas for our imagined reality. This process was very helpful for us to realise an alternate reality and craft a story.
PROJECT OUTCOME
The selected concepts/artefacts were published in the ‘Imagining the Unimaginable’ magazine which was shared at the event. The selected concepts were also exhibited at the event. Our concept was an augmented reality experience that could be viewed after scanning the physical poster using the 'artivive' app. These artefacts were used as research materials that gave insights into your values of the future for a creative research project carried out by the Learning Community Urban Interaction Design.
SPECULATIVE REALITY CONCEPT
Since, the physical posters/artworks were to be exhibited at the ‘Imagining the Unimaginable’
event we wanted to further extend the experience by creating augmented art that visitors can view using the 'artivive' app in their phones. Visitors can simply scan the physical poster and would be able to experience the designed animated concept.
In the scenario we imagined, windows of the home would be an interface to the world outside and serve as screens to display ads with skies full of drone traffic in backdrop. We speculated of a world where advertisements would be showcased to people over window facades and deliveries happen through the windows since humans cannot go out anymore.
PROJECT IMPACT- IMAGINING THE UNIMAGINABLE EVENT
The selected works were exhibited at the ‘Imagining the Unimaginable’ event at SPUI 25 in Amsterdam.
The event was a gathering of speculative thinkers, urban planners and engaged citizens alike to discuss: Is this a future we want to live in? What can we learn now from these speculative artefacts? And how can speculative design be used to understand citizen perspectives and make more sound urban planning decisions? The selected concepts/artefacts were also published in the magazine shared at the event. The insights from the submitted artefacts were used as a part of the creative research project undertaken by the Community Urban Interaction Design.
