Designing For the Future

Presented by Ming-Li Chai, Strategic Design Researcher at Microsoft

As leaders, practitioners and designers who operate in rapidly changing environments, how do we make sense of trends, stay ahead of the curve, recognize an opportunity when it happens, and take advantage of it in our pursuit of future solutions?

In this session, we will share a mindset and a toolset to help you factor in the future when you create design strategies today. We will walk you through key steps of the “fuzzy front end” of the innovation process: From developing foresight, to uncovering emerging opportunities, to creating future-forward scenarios. You will learn a synthesized blend of methodologies from leading institutions such as the Institute For the Future, Global Business Network, and Stanford Center for Foresight & Innovation.

This workshop is for design students and professionals as well as individuals curious about design thinking and strategy. No experience or preparation is required.