Uncovering The Futures Blind Spot in Service Design / Lucy Kimbell / Episode #257
Service Design Show
Politics as an Uncertainty for Design
Lucy explains political design forms—sustainable, decolonial, design justice—and whether they scale beyond niches.
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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