Speculative Design
When designers get bored of fixing the present and start making shit up about the future to see how uncomfortable it makes everyone. Basically, creating imaginary products, services, or worlds that make you go “wait… what if?” and then realise the future might be weirder than you thought. Not about predicting what’s gonna happen, but making you question what’s happening right now.
Imagine Instagram starts charging you $5 every time you scroll past an ad without buying anything, because the algorithm says you’re wasting its time. That’s speculative design. It’s a fake feature that makes you question whether social media is just an app anymore, or a business trying to monetise literally every second of your life.
Speculative Design by Araucaria Angustifolia October 28, 2026