There are plenty of R&D labs working on foresight projects, where technologists and designers imagine the futures. What kind of roles designers are playing? And how are futures currently being predicted? I will give an intro on the Gartner Hype Cycle, and give a personal take on where trends and fads comes into play. How many more times can we reinvent the smart refrigerators? And why has it never get adopted in the market? I will present interesting cases of failures that were predicted in the past, and what we can learn from the history. To design meaningful futures, designers will need to embrace a different perspective: It’s no longer about out of the box thinking, but finding the right box to frame the opportunity space.
