About the Program
Souvenirs from the Future is an introductory course on design fiction and speculative design, focused on imagining possible futures and designing the products or artifacts that might exist within them. Through speculative storytelling, narrative-driven thinking and world-building, students explore how future scenarios can shape design outcomes.
Students learn to construct and analyze plausible or provocative futures by examining social, cultural, technological and systemic changes. These imagined contexts become the foundation for designing functional, digital, symbolic, or emotional artifacts. The course emphasizes design as a response to context, encouraging students to move beyond linear thinking and explore new possibilities for innovation and design evolution.
Course Objectives
- Introduce students to the principles and practices of design fiction
- Develop speculative and narrative-driven thinking as design tools
- Encourage critical analysis of future systems, cultures, and technologies
- Explore how products and artifacts emerge from specific contexts and scenarios
- Enable students to design objects situated in speculative futures
- Expand creative ideation beyond conventional problem-solving frameworks
Faculty
Prof. Dishant Pradhan
Academic Specialist - DesignProf. Dishant Pradhan is Academic Specialist - Design, he finished his Bachelor’s degree in Product Design from the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad. Prof. Dishant has a total work experience of over three years. He was associated as Guest Faculty at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. He has worked at Whirlpool India ltd. in Gurgaon as an Industrial Designer. He has received a Bronze medal at the Taiwan International Design Competition in the Product Design category in 2019. He has also exhibited his work as a Guest visual artist at the Kathmandu Triennale, 2022. His works have been showcased at various Festivals like the Dharamshala International Film Festival and London Himalayan Film festival. He is also the founder of a multimedia art community called The LAB collective. His research interests are in the field of Design and Innovation, new media, education, and visual storytelling.