Making Futures Work

Afterword

This afterword is written by Ben Lowdon, a practicing design futurist, design director, and coach at eBay, having worked previously at Zalando and Nokia (future maps). Ben is concerned with how design helps to create better outcomes for people and the planet and uses futuring methods within his coaching and professional design leadership practice.

Next Steps: Continuing Your Journey

We’re at the end of this futures primer, and you have now acquired a new mindset and a big bag of new tricks. You’ve learned how design plays a crucial role in futures and foresight and how it can assist in discovering, synthesizing, and facilitating information into alternative visions, provocations, and solutions. You’ve also learned how futures thinking expands the range of typical design research methodology and practice and how you might apply this mindset to the entirety of your process. You’ve discovered new tools to practice and learned about the importance of developing the right outlook and practicing imagination and curiosity for the future. But what now?

Well, having been through this step myself, I can confidently tell you that you just need to begin by actively applying what you have learned here. You could start with picking a personal project and working on it. Maybe find a few people at your workplace whom you can safely practice and try different tools with and get feedback on your approach. Start or join a broader community of practice of people you can share your passion ...