Madeleine Tults
Strategic Designer at Trinidad WisemanMadeleine’s expertise is in strategic design with an emphasis on designing future proof services by combining futures thinking methods with these of design. She is an experienced service and UX designer as well as trainer and facilitator in her areas of expertise. At Trinidad Wiseman she leads large public sector projects as strategist, project manager and UX researcher/designer. Also, she has been mentoring companies at a number of service design masterclasses.
Madeleine has studied and practiced futures thinking methodology at the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto. She is an activist at the Estonian Future Studies Institute that is dedicated to spreading futures knowledge in the society. She is a valued keynote speaker at conferences and regularly runs futures thinking workshops.
Madeleine has BA degree in Political Science from Gettysburg College, MA degree in European Studies from College of Europe and MA in Interaction Design from Estonian Academy of Arts (Tallinn).
Talk
Designing for Tomorrow: Incorporating Futures Thinking into Design for Resilient and Adaptable Solutions
The world is changing faster than ever, and designing just for today won’t cut it anymore. Limiting focus to current demands may yield soon-to-be obsolete solutions.
As designers, our role is to look beyond immediate needs and explore how social trends, new technologies, and evolving behaviours will shape future experiences.
This is where futures thinking comes in and besides answering the ever-important question of “how might we?” we ask, “how might be?”. Futures thinking is a dynamic set of tools that helps us imagine future possibilities, allowing us to craft designs that are adaptable, sustainable, and forward-looking.
In this talk, we’ll dive into how weaving futures thinking into the design process empowers us to create resilient solutions that stay relevant in an ever-shifting landscape. With practical strategies and forward-thinking insights, and by considering future scenarios, we can future-proof our designs, ensuring they continue to deliver value to both users and businesses, no matter what comes next.
Design and futures thinking complement each other in several ways. Not only does foresight amplify the impact of design but designers are especially well-suited for futures work thanks to their expertise in visualising complex ideas and concepts, their ability to synthesise diverse perspectives and information, and their deep understanding of human-centred design and empathy.