WHO: in collaboration with Niharika Gupta & Wei-li Lo
WHERE: New Design Firms
WHAT: Future thinking, scenario planning, visualization
WHY: The year is 2029. Change is in the air. We live in a world with increasing socioeconomic instability. In this project, the team forecasts some future scenarios based on holistic examinations of elements in the new economy - healthcare, education, politics etc.
From the Kardashian-Jenner clan who can’t put down their iPhones anymore to Parkinson’s disease patients with deep brain simulation implants, we were fascinated by the idea of a robotic human. It’s not a fantasy anymore. Can we still perform basic human functions if say Instagram suddenly crashes down one afternoon?
Between the probable and the wild card, where can we envision a company to settle in the uncertainties and what is the futures ready strategy? We adopted a common tool in the futures work, the futures cone, to predict some scenarios in 2029.
The idea of designing brain chips slowly emerged. However, we realize that everything came at a price. Implantable brain chips will be nothing less than a controversy. So we tapped into the future values and discussed some potential criticism on the product.
Drum roll pleaseee
Our final product from this project was a series of user manuals for the brain chips. Here is a sample of the language category.