Tech Concept Lab AI Futures

A 24 hour Design Fiction Sprint

DESIGN FICTIONDESIGN SPRINTWORKSHOP

Hyper Island Design Sprint Participants — Imagination Unlocks Greatness

Project Summary

We helped Tech Concept Lab organize and facilitate a 24 hour Design Fiction + AI Design Sprint. This was done remotely between Venice Beach 🛹 California and Karlskrona 🏂🏽 Sweden. The objective was to expose students to the mechanics of ideation, innovation, and imagination through Design Fiction. For my participation, I presented a 'Design Fiction 101' overview with some examples of past projects. There was some Q&A from the audience and then they engaged in their sprint. I joined some of the groups for more focussed discussion and review of their projects before they presented to judges.

Client: Ericsson Consumer Lab, Hyper Island, Tech Concept Lab

Client URL: https://techconceptlab.com/

Team: Near Future Laboratory, Tech Concept Lab

Project Year: 2024

Published On: May 24, 2024, 10:56

Updated On: May 25, 2024, 18:33

Written By: Julian Bleecker

Project Semantic Tags ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCEDESIGN FICTIONFACILITATIONWORKSHOP

The Project

We helped organize and facilitate a 24 hour Design Fiction Sprint on the topic of Possible AI Futures in collaboration with Ericsson Consumer Lab, Hyper Island, and Blekinge Institute of Technology. The purpose of the event was to introduce students from BIT (oh..that's cool, actually..) to a fresh approach to ideation and concept development.

The Outcomes

The experience was remarkably successful. It gave the BIT students an opportunity to learn about Design Fiction in practice as opposed to just theoretically. It allowed for them to do so by immersing themselves in a rapid prototyping, brainstorming context. It also got them out of the classroom and into a vibrant kinetic environment as a form of stimulus that introduces a feeling of novelty and possibility. There were also opportunities to coach the individual groups and encourage them to think thorugh ways of representing possible implications of AI in ways that do not overly fetishize the technology itself. The winning team was successful at translating human needs through AI; adapting a recognizable component of the expat experience as a compelling opportunity to think about how advances in artificial intelligence might address feelings of longing for home and loneliness. Rather than taking AI and trying to find a problem to solve, like a door knob looking for a house, they worked the other way, starting with the problem and wondering about AI and then normalized and grounded the experience in a relatable way.

I was super excited to facilitate, create context for and present for Tech Concept Lab’s Design Fiction Hackathon and 24 Hour Sprint on the theme of A Future Of…AI.

The brief participants received was to use Design Fiction prototype that explored how AI had become as normal, ordinary, and everyday as wheels on luggage, and televisions we talk to.

The event was the second annual event organised by Tech Concept Lab, in collaboration with a two other labs (😄): Ericsson Consumer Lab and of course us here at Near Future Laboratory.

50 students from Hyper Island and Blekinge Institute of Technology worked in 8 teams to rapidly prototype and deliver their concepts.

The winning team’s artifact represented a felt human need: How can expats who miss home and loved ones share food and taste experiences that make them feel more connected to home. The team nicely connected a core value of Ericsson’s, which is using their technology to help connect people.

Awesome. Fun. Playful. And a great way to introduce the students to Design Fiction and its value as a process to working through ideas as they exhibit themselves in human needs (as opposed to just a technology for the sake of “technology”), and grounding the concept in a humble, normal, ordinary circumstance.

Tech Concept Lab Hyper Island Ericsson Consumer Lab Design Fiction Design Sprint

Want to learn more? Curious how we work? Feel like your organization could use a bit more Imagination to help make sense of the dynamic character of a kinetic marketplace?
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