The Cranbrook Workshop
Behind the scenes of how we imagine harder.
Picture this: "Cranbrook Time Capsule Kits." These kits, provided to each graduate, contain advanced, biodegradable materials for encapsulating their most significant art piece from their time at the academy. The twist is that these capsules are designed to degrade only after 50 years, timed to open at a grand future alumni reunion. Each capsule is uniquely coded with the artist's DNA signature, ensuring authenticity and personal connection to the work within.
Behind the Scenes
My partner in timecrime, Julian Bleecker (from the
), and I led a workshop for the 4D design and architecture students at Cranbrook Academy of Art earlier this week. We are grateful to program advisors Carla Diana (4D) and Gretchen Wilkins (Arch) for inviting us to spend two full days introducing their students to Design Fiction. We helped demonstrate tools to engage the imagination and produce artifacts that provoke questions rather than provide all the answers - a collaborative approach to innovation.
After introductions, we toured the Henry Ford Museum of Innovation's archive in Dearborn, MI (where the vast majority of the collection resides out of public view). The chief curator led us through room after giant room filled with artifacts that have many stories to tell. Each item reminded us of the humble and imperfect beginnings of innovations we take for granted today.
Inspecting these objects directly inspired our brains with insights. We examined the artifacts seeking inspiration in the same way we would soon interrogate the design fiction we were about to create.
Upon returning to campus in Bloomfield Hills, MI, we spent the next day-and-a-half discussing the intricacies of developing design fiction, drawing lines from imagination to innovation. We explored design fiction through discussion, team collaboration using the Work Kit of Design Fiction, and by prototyping an AI Design Fiction Generator I have been developing. We covered many techniques for discovering, designing and delivering design fiction artifacts and their practical application in provocative futures thinking.
If your team is interested in learning more about design fiction and how it can catalyze futures thinking, please reach out. We offer online workshops or in-person sessions tailored to your needs. For those in the Detroit area (or willing to travel to), we also facilitate private tours of the world's largest innovation collection coupled with design fiction workshops - a truly inspiring experience.
Wherever you are, if you seek to unlock creativity for the future, we are here to help guide the process. Our passion is bringing design fiction techniques to organizations ready to explore new frontiers. Please drop me a line to discuss further. I look forward to hearing from you!
Curious what lessons you learned in running the workshop there. I find it fascinating how different audiences engage these games differently.
I love your Imagine Harder mind-meld claw gesture, btw.