Orientation 2020: Our First Virtual Futuring Workshop!

Last night wrapped up our 2020 New Student Orientation for the Class of 2022, and it was an amazing finish. Facitlitated by Products of Design alumni Steve Hamilton, Manaka Tamura, and Lucy Knops, students took to the 24 hour hackathon with extraordinary commitment and enthusiasm. The “reveal” of the work—typically students take the streets of New York City—rather took place on Zoom, with each participant inviting “friends of friends” to keep close with the intention that responses to the work are from people not in the field of design.

It was a great turnout, and the student presented their work with both authority and curiosity—taking in the questions and suggestions from the guests, responding when they could, and simply showing appreciation for thoughtful suggestions and additions to the work.

The design brief focused on the useful “50-years-into-the-future,” for the temporal, and “at a protest” for the contextual. Design speculations were brave and broad, offering projects from surveilance-blocking sprays, to sound-blocking shields, to an at-home line of consumer products for use with your telemedicine doctor.

The critique, scheduled for 1 hour, went on for more than double the time (and probably could have lasted to a third hour!), but the workshop convincingly proved to these nascent Products of Designers the power of a quick prototype and a well-researched hypothesis.

Enjoy some screenshots above, and cheers to a great first year ahead!