What does the "futures of the fridge" example teach about designing futures?
Ask "how will we store food in the future?" instead of reinventing the fridge. Shifting the focus from the object to the need and its social context opens up far more, and far more different, futures.
* Starting from the need instead of the device widens the space of futures *
Asked what the fridge of the future looks like, most people answer with features: Wi-Fi, automation, a built-in chatbot. That is the gadget future. Looking at real designs shows how wide the space actually is:
- High-tech concept: the Bio Robot Refrigerator (a 2010 design-competition concept), with no doors or drawers: food is pressed into a cooling gel.
- Lifestyle gadget: a small portable fridge for the living room or for cosmetics.
- Low-tech rethink: the Groundfridge, a buried cellar cooled by the surrounding soil, without electricity.
- Social innovation: public community fridges (e.g. Madame Frigo in Switzerland), shared by a neighbourhood to cut food waste.
Only the first two are "better fridges". The last two answer the need, keeping food fresh, by changing infrastructure and social arrangements. That is the point: futures design should focus on context and societal needs, less on technology.
Go deeper:
Weltevree: The Groundfridge — the electricity-free underground cellar.- Madame Frigo — the Swiss network of public fridges against food waste (German).
- IIR: Electrolux Bio Robot Refrigerator — the gel-fridge concept.