Strengths and limitations
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Speculative design effectively uses different lenses to help us gain a deeper perception of society and desirable futures. Speculations are particularly compelling in their ability to showcase the advantages and pitfalls of different technology, which help guide our future decisions (Suran, 2019). The series [Black Mirror] perfectly captures this essence, presenting various “What if?” scenarios. The creator, Charlie Brooker, describes it as a show where “Weak people use powerful tools” (Khara, 2019); stimulating uneasiness in the audience and sparking discussions. Other speculative designs conceptualise real-world problems - by influencing audiences through emotion rather than using imperative cues. They allow people to self-reflect deeply on their values and actions while navigating life. The ambiguity of speculative designs allows for constant feedback and iterations.

The strength of speculative ambiguity may also be a limitation - in terms of productive design development and integration. One may argue that speculative design shifts our focus to future possibilities rather than real investment towards preventing societal collapse (Revell, 2021). A big question is whether we can make these speculations tangible, and what does it take to put our time and resources into real change? For designs requiring advanced or non-existent technologies, higher fidelity prototypes will be challenging to test.
This may lead speculative designs to remain in the realm of incompletion - or a draft to be tested in the future.

However, speculative designs are not intended to work solely. They are the most powerful when used in conjunction with other design approaches, which can transform these ideas into real blueprints.
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Did the blurb above make you feel uncomfortable? Plastical foods imagine a future where we will have to consume plastic as part of the waste management process. Is this the future of food that you would like?
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Goal of the design
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Plasticful foods is an innovative project developed by the University of Amsterdam and Hogeschool Amsterdam. The project aims to tackle pollution and promote circular waste management processes by disrupting current behaviours around waste management. It aims to bridge the psychological distance between people’s everyday behaviours and the waste management issue by simplifying the problem into a concept and making it more personal to the user (Mitrovíc, 2020).


What makes this a more successful speculative design than the other cases analysed?________________________________________________________________________________
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Plasticful foods caught my interest as it really allowed me to stop and think about the given topic. What makes this speculative design project more effective than the cases my group explored is its ability to create realistic design fiction. “The Plasticful project has taken facts from the present day and projected them into a possible future” (Plasticful Foods, 2020). The concept persuasively tells a story about a, daunting future we may move towards. It used real marketing strategies and humour - triggering a great sense of unease from its realism. Plastical foods also go beyond creating disrupting thoughts by providing “The solution”. They have provided tools, inspirations, and opportunities to activate real contributions from the user.
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How did it better achieve its goal?
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The campaign uses speculative design to promote behavioural change in a fresh format. Rather than using the negative, guilt-ridden approach, Plasticful Food captures the attention of fatigued audiences through stimulating positive sustainability conversations (Mitrović, 2021). It challenges them to ask real questions about human consumption and waste behavi ours, and the future that may entail if continued. Now, what would you do to avoid a future of Plasticful foods?