Lost Imaginary Friend

Design Fiction in the Wild

Today’s post is a design fiction submission from my friend and Near Future Laboratory collaborator Chris Butler.

Chris messaged me:

During one of Extrapolation Factory's workshops in NYC outside of mmuseumm I did a lost poster for a kid's companion. Thought it rhymed with yours [here] and wanted to share!

While the janky time machine takes me to far flung timeline where artifacts appear to be photoshopped and rendered with AI, that is just one flavour of the craft. Chris’ submission is a quintessential example of how design fiction can manifest. Not just real-looking, but real, as it exists as a material, tangible artifact.

This design fiction acts as a futures intervention that can be stumbled upon by unsuspecting passersby allowing for the purest provocations to occur. This is where one might not only question the future, but also ask “is this real life?”.

If you’ve got any design fiction examples you’d like me to consider to showcase, drop me a line by replying to the DFD email or reach out at designfiction @ substack dot com.