DCM170: Researching the Future Everyday
a bittersweet brew: exploring the role of nostalgia in speculative rituals
[design research] [speculative design]
April 2024 - June 2024
An increasing number of design researchers are employing speculative design to examine our delicate food production system and the pressures we place on it. Coffee, in particular, has been shown to be highly sensitive to climate change.
In this experiential futures project, me, along with two teammates explore the role of nostalgia in speculative rituals to promote reflections on our current practices related to coffee making and drinking. It aims to challenge the status quo to surface the embedded social and cultural values as well as sociopolitical tensions. To make sense of this space, we create an experiential futures exhibition contextualized in the year 2050, and synthesize three fabulations: (1) It's all gone, (2) Collective nostalgia, and (3) I need closure.
Interaction with visitors unpacked the interconnectedness of personal and collective identities, material cultures, social structures, and broader societal issues, offering invitations to design researchers to explore alternative ways of engaging with speculative rituals through scent-evoked nostalgia.
Visitor examining the cabinet of rarities in fabulation (1)
Engaging with speculative design and worldbuilding has profoundly influenced my identity as a designer, shifting my focus from challenging current practices to fostering collective imaginaries that transcend anthropocentric biases. Inspired by Keller Easterling’s “medium design,” which embraces complexity and contradiction, and Bruno Latour’s view of design as a way to “draw things together,” I now see design as an intermediary practice, working beyond the problem-solution dichotomy to offer transformative possibilities.
Speculative design, often seen as future-focused, also operates in the present by reshaping perceptions and enabling systemic change. In this project, I explored two key aspects of futuring: first, finding the right temporal distance—too far risks abstraction, while too close limits possibilities; and second, using emotional hooks to make imagined futures personal and engaging.
Worldbuilding became a vital tool, helping me understand interconnected systems. Writing scenarios revealed how shifts—such as sustainable farming advancements or trade policy changes—ripple through networks, affecting environmental, social, and economic systems. This approach demonstrated how design extends beyond aesthetics or technical solutions to play a strategic and political role. These insights informed my Final Major Project, where speculative design enabled me to communicate narratives and explore entangled planetary futures with greater depth and intentionality.
Competency development
