Uncovering The Futures Blind Spot in Service Design / Lucy Kimbell / Episode #257
Service Design Show
Sci‑Fi, Cultural Futuring and Temporality
Lucy contrasts scenario planning with sci‑fi, and explores temporality in service design and long-term consequences of work.
Are we actively designing our own future, or just everyone else's? 🔮 Discover how integrating "futures thinking" into your practice can help you spot industry shifts early and make better, more deliberate decisions today.
It’s easy to get stuck in the day-to-day grind of deadlines and deliverables. But if we don't think about the long-term role of design, we risk building a world we don't actually want to live in.
In this episode, Marc sits down with Professor Lucy Kimbell—author of the upcoming book "Futures for Design"—to tackle a fascinating issue: the "futures blind spot." We explore why designers work tirelessly to shape the future of healthcare or education, yet rarely apply that same forward-thinking lens to our own profession.
🎧 In This Episode
- The Futures Blind Spot: Why designers often fail to apply futures inquiry to their own professional practice.
- Strategic Uncertainties: Why studying what you don't know is far more valuable than trying to predict a perfect, clear picture of the future.
- Growing Your Futures Literacy: Practical, everyday ways to integrate futures thinking into your team's workflow without adding to the overwhelm.
- Spotting Weak Signals: How to identify early, quiet trends in the design industry before they evolve into dominant, disruptive forces.
If you're ready to turn off autopilot and co-create the future of design with intention, hit subscribe so you never miss an episode!
We also want to hear from you: If you had to pick one word to describe how you feel about the future of design, what would it be? Drop it in the comments or send us a message!
As always, enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact!~ Marc
--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to episode 257
00:00 Episode Introduction
01:30 Breaking Design Autopilot
02:30 Design is Political
03:45 Designing on Autopilot
06:15 Consequences of Financialization
08:30 Surveillance Capitalism
12:00 Next-Gen Design Pressures
14:30 Futures for Design Book
17:00 Oxford Scenarios Methodology
21:00 Transactional vs Contextual
30:30 Institutional Fragmentation
32:45 Weak Signals in Design
35:00 Uncertainties to Scenarios
39:00 Scenario Planning vs Sci-Fi
45:00 Lucy Kimball's Journey
48:30 Limits of Speculative Design
52:15 Value of Writing
54:15 Present-Day Strategy
56:45 Managing Macro Chaos
1:00:45 The 10-Year Question
01:02:30 Final Thoughts
--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---
- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucykimbell/
- UAL web profile and links to publications - https://researchers.arts.ac.uk/1178-lucy-kimbell
- Design in 2040 project with UAL graduates - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrcI04iMvZHJNQxiytGv1yU_iVtNchee_&si=nU5nQp9dYYAXsSmd
- Coming Soon: Futures for Design: Uncertainties, Scenarios, Implications by Lucy Kimbell (Book)
--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---
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