Prospective design is a new design approach developed at Federal University of Technology Paraná inspired by Carnegie Mellon University's Transition Design approach. This short talk explains two of the differences between the approaches: 1) instead of focusing on alternative futures, Prospective Design focuses on alternative presents; 2) instead of framing situations as systems, it frames them as relations that may sometimes form systems but also other totalities that are not systems. We believe that Prospective Design is, in itself, a relation that discovers new possible relations in alternative presents, here and now. This talk was part of the Transition Design Symposium held by University of Texas Arlington. Watch the full recording for the talks of Terry Irwin, Renata Leitão, and Farzaneh Eftekari.

1. Designing relations in
Prospective Design
Frederick van Amstel @fredvanamstel
Service Design and Experience Design
UTFPR, Brazil
fredvanamstel.com

2. Speculative Design
Transition Design
Prospective Design
Present Alternative futures

3. The domestication of the future
legitimates the colonization of the
present with never-fulfilling
promises. We must transition to
alternative presents to avoid that.
Van Amstel, Frederick M.C and Gonzatto, Rodrigo Freese. (in press) Existential time and historicity
interaction design. Human-Computer Interaction.

4. Probable
Possible
Unlikely
Impossible
Unthinkable
Alternative presents

5. Probable
Possible
Unlikely
Impossible
Unthinkable
Prospecting new relations in alternative presents

6. Probable
New Possible
Unlikely
Impossible
Unthinkable

7. Probable
New Possible
Unlikely
Impossible
Unthinkable

8. 1st
Order
Designing
information
2nd
Order
Designing
experiences
3rd
Order
Designing
interactions
4th
Order
Designing
relations
Prospective design focuses on the 4th Order of Design
(Buchanan, 1992; 2001)

9. In a recent study on the COVID-19 pandemic, we found that
designers were focused too much on (1) information and (2)
experience and too little on (3) interaction and (4) relations.
Van Amstel, Frederick M.C.; Guimarães, Cayley; Botter, Fernanda. (2021). Prospecting a systemic design
space for pandemic responses. Strategic Design Research Journal, 14(1), pp.66-80.

10. Why aren't designers
prospecting new relations?

11. Objective qualities

12. Relational qualities

13. To prospect new relations,
designers need to perceive
relational qualities.

14. sustainability
resilience
equity
solidarity
conviviality
mobility
usability
accessibility
durability
utility
beauty
clarity
Objective qualities Relational qualities

15. Relational qualities cannot be
designed by designers alone.
They need to be designed with
the related people and with
the related things.

16. Corais Platform, a digital infrastructure that enables solidarity
economy relations in dozens of cultural producers across Brazil.
Van Amstel, Frederick M.C.; Gonzatto, Rodrigo F.; Jatobá, Pedro G. (2021). Redesigning money as a tool for
self-management in cultural production. Proceedings of the II PIVOT 2021 Virtual Conference. Design Research
Society. – Jul 28, 2021 - Jul 27, 2021

17. The women coffee worker coalition formed by one of our students
who connected rural with urban women to fight sexism.
Eleutério, Rafaella P. and Van Amstel, Frederick M.C. Matters of Care in Designing a Feminist Coalition. (2020).
In: Proceedings of the 16th Participatory Design Conference. Manizales, Colombia.

18. Mapping the outreach projects of our Industrial Design department
and trying to find synergies among them (2020).

19. COVID-19 controversy mapping, design for public policy, and
popular communication in Curitiba's marginalized communities.
Vale, G.; Zanotto da Silva C., Cabral, M; Moniz, M; Rodrigues da Silva, C; Van Amstel, F.M.C. (2020) Perifa
consciente: comunicação popular em comunidades vulneráveis de Curitiba (Conscious Periphery: popular
communication in vulnerable communities of Curitiba). Revista Tecnologia e Sociedade, 16, 111-117.

20. Prospective design is, in itself,
a relation that discovers new
possible relations in alternative
presents, here and now.

21. Thank you!
Frederick van Amstel @fredvanamstel
fredvanamstel.com