Predict the Future

Speculative design requires people to suspend their disbelief and allow their imaginations to wander. Here's one tool to ground it in reality.

In 2021 you devoured blogs about looking at old problems in new ways, unlocking your professional potential, and creating products that change the world for the better.

Warning: I’m going to criticize and question something beloved by millions of people—stationary exercise bikes.

When we reflect on 2020, we may come to think of it a period when we had the time to pursue simpler, do-it-yourself, pleasures like making bread or planting a garden. Many of us used the endless pandemic months to learn a new a language or take up a new outdoor sport.

Translating research into actions is often more art than science. We have found “how might we” questions to be useful tools. Here's how to write one.

Forecasting and backcasting provide a framework for disruptive innovation by establishing a solid structure to support big, strategic thinking.

How will you decide today what to design for 2030? Strategists look to megatrends to predict consumer behavior and futureproof strategy.

Our free, on-demand webinar explains why innovation is so critical in healthcare, and introduces our Framework for Strategic Innovation: Health + Wellness.

We've examined key sociocultural megatrends through a lens of medical and wellness consumer experience to single out four profound shifts in the field.

We may need an innovacation after this! But no chance... the talks and exhibits are still going strong.

Jesse Darley and I arrived Friday evening and walked the streets of Austin. We were immediately immersed in all things SXSW. There were music, crowds, exhibits, lines, homeless, clubbers, diners, all of it.

Doing user research now won't help you design for 2028. Trend analysis will. Design strategists turn to it to predict consumers' future behavior.

I recently read a Pew report on the future of the Internet of Things, full of opinions on how people may choose to adopt or reject IoT products and services based on security, convenience and richness of experience, among others.

Humans aren’t so hot at assessing risk.

Recently, I was asked by the University of Wisconsin to share my thoughts on the future of engineering education as the keynote speaker at their 2016 Engineering Innovation Showcase.

Have you ever read an article about design trends and wondered, “Where on earth did THAT come from?”

We did a thought experiment and traveled 50 years into the future to glimpse the future of healthcare and of the patient's user experience.