Speculative Needs XOXO

Engaging designers in critical explorations around future services.

About

This workshop series focuses on speculative needs—future or imagined requirements and desires that might arise under alternative future scenarios. Unlike traditional user research, these needs are provocative hypotheses not tied to present-day constraints but shaped by potential social, cultural, economic, or technological changes. The workshops leverage speculative design to explore how these evolving contexts could transform human experiences.

Goal

The primary goal of the series is to challenge participants’ assumptions, reveal emerging and latent needs, and inspire fresh narratives that consider alternative worlds. By doing so, the workshops aim to foster innovation and strategic foresight that inform sustainable, socially impactful design solutions.

Selected Press

Dezeen “Lebanese students anticipate future human needs for Beirut Design Week exhibition"

Design Indaba “From harvesting fungi from the body to hormone infused cocktails, are these the products of the future?”

Monocle Radio “One of the most thought-provoking showcases was an exhibition called ‘Speculative Needs’ by the Mena Design Research Center. We sat down with the project’s curator”

FRAME “DIY DNA manipulation and flesh coins – exhibition speculates on future needs”

Future Prototypes

Dream it.

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.
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Build it.

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.
Grow it.

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.
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Sell it.

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.
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Process

I designed and facilitated these workshops across diverse global contexts, making use of simple, accessible materials such as dollar store objects to ignite imagination and critical inquiry. Participants engaged with themes including water scarcity, social media ethics, and genetic engineering, reinterpreting everyday items as speculative artifacts from possible futures. This hands-on, creative approach encouraged participants to think beyond current limitations and to envision alternative realities.

Dezeen “Lebanese students anticipate future human needs for Beirut Design Week exhibition"

Design Indaba “From harvesting fungi from the body to hormone infused cocktails, are these the products of the future?”

DAMN Magazine “Daisy Ginsberg also expressed her appreciation for Tatiana Toutikians Speculative Needs XOXO Exhibition at BDW, a collaborative project between nine Lebanese university campuses”

Monocle Radio “One of the most thought-provoking showcases was an exhibition called ‘Speculative Needs’ by the Mena Design Research Center. We sat down with the project’s curator”

FRAME “DIY DNA manipulation and flesh coins – exhibition speculates on future needs”

Near Future Laboratory’s LSN Global “Beirut – The Speculative Needs XOXO exhibition explores the purpose that design will serve in the future.”

Provotypes

Algorithm Shift

A wearable device absorbs the music history, web browsing cookies, and other searches of another person. This allows the algorithm that knows you all too well to recalibrate and give you less narrow suggestions.

DNA Weddings

As genetically engineered babies become the norm with CRISPR, why not gift your best DNA asset a bridal shower rather than gifting your couch. That way you can engineer a baby that can compete with the beauty standards of this unforgiving world.