DUp 178 🔮 Sponsors & Partners, Super Special Guest Ed > The Designers' Guide to the Futures

7Not long now for DesignUp 2024, the most-awaited Design Conference and Festival of the year! This year we're grateful to have Atlassian and Adobe return as partners for the mega event - plus we've got more sponsors and partners to be announced super soon, including some here…

That being said, our Call for Sponsors is still open! And we're inviting you and your organization to #partnerUp with us this year for South East Asia's biggest design-in-tech event. Interested? DM us or comment "Tell me more" in our Linkedin post.

Curious to know why brands like to partner with DesignUp and what the perks are? Hear it straight from them in this short video -

✨✨ Shoutout to our DesignUp Conference 2024 Sponsors & Partners

• The legendary type foundry Monotype joins the list of 2024 Sponsors - Monotype’s extensive library includes some of the most famous and widely-used fonts, such as the Helvetica®, Univers®, and Frutiger® typeface families, as well as new and innovative fonts like Posterama and Masqualero.

• Chitkara University joins us as an Academic Partner, Chitkara’s Design School has a range of undergrad and post-grad programs from Animation, Fashion, Communication to UX, and more.

• Varnam Collective joins us as a Gifting Partner - delighted that the traditional Chanapatna Craft will find its way, via Varnam, to our stellar speakers from around the globe.

🔮 The Designers’ Guide to the Futures with Thomas Kueber

✨✨ This year, Berlin-based interaction designer, co-founder of strategic design and foresight studio Futur2, co-lead of IxDA Berlin, Thomas Kueber, and his partner at Futur2, Andreas Wegner, are Keynote speakers on the future (or rather futures) of mobility across rails, streets and all the rest. This is Thomas’ third visit to India - he even lived in Mumbai for about a year! This time he’s looking forward to discussing the future of transportation beyond the usual narratives around the global north and connecting on future ideas about how to design for a more inclusive and less fossil-fuel-filled future.

✨✨ Today, Thomas shares a specially curated list of book reccos for our readers!

So, as a passionate amateur futurist, I wanted to list a glimpse of “old-school” resources that helped me understand how to deal with the futures. Most of them focus on the reasoning and the bigger ideas that form and influence human societies and therefore inspire our thinking than providing blueprints of concrete models or methods. In general, I find these books age much better and stay relevant beyond their zeitgeist.

The Next Billion Users - Digital Life Beyond the West by Payal Arora

This one isn't completely new or completely futuristic but a) it's a brilliant outlook on the world beyond the common perception of the tech world and puts the true global population (where the majority doesn't live in a Western metropolis) into the spotlight. With over 90% of the young generation living in the global south 15 years from now, this truly gives a future perspective. And b) it's written by the brilliant Payal Arora, who has an infectious way of turning thorough research into instantly encouraging narratives. [Ed: DesignUp attendees had the pleasure of listening to her talk in 2019!]

Who Owns The Future by Jaron Lanier

Another not-so-new book about the future but a fundamental and crucial thought model to explain power shifts and social movements through and by technology is Jaron Lanier's Who Owns The Future. It puts our capitalistic world into perspective through the lens of current digital distribution and business models. Despite the author's deep roots in Silicon Valley culture, he provides a rather critical view of the world of big tech, and how server culture changes how we think, create and live.

AI Narratives: A History of Imaginative Thinking About Intelligent Machines

I came across this collection - edited by the brilliant team led by Stephen Cave from Cambridge University - when we at Futur2 participated in a workshop on the future of AI when there still was no AI (meaning around 4 years ago!). It presents an easy and almost lyrical path into how AI might shape our futures, by analyzing the past, and how we and the previous generations had imagined and evaluated the relationship between humans and machines.

Making Futures Work by Phil Balagtas

As I mentioned before, there are tons of books on "methodology" or "technique" when it comes to the intersection of design and futurism, but this one is exceptionally valuable. First, because it is massive and shares a ton of real-world stories and practical applications. Second, because it is very hands-on and brutally honest, leaving out the razzmatazz we put up with when explaining the "magic" of design. It's a real guide you can use and put to use immediately. And third, because it features our studio Futur2’s approach of incorporating dystopia into the foresight process!

Bonus: Dystopian Trend Cards by Futur2

And just to add, not a book, but a very much old-school resource (cards!) is our very own Dystopian Trend Cards. Trends that, with a healthy sense of pitch-black humour let you deep-dive into futuristic, dark scenarios.”

Photo credits: Thomas Kueber

Stay in Touch

✅ Follow us on Insta or Linkedin for the latest updates on DesignUp Conference 2024!

💌 Add [email protected] to your contacts so you never miss an edition.

💙 Share this newsletter with anyone you know who would enjoy it.

📨 Came across a cool link? Share your recommendations with @soosixty or @jdallcaps - we love to hear from you!

🍀 Stay calm and stay curious,

@soosixty & @jdallcaps