Independent Designer/Researcher, XD Studio
Nipuni Siyambalapitiya is a designer, researcher, and educator based in Cupertino, California.
After completing her Bachelor of Design from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, she spent her early career working on interior, furniture, and industrial design projects in Sri Lanka.
She earned a Master's in Industrial Design from Arizona State University in 2020 and subsequently joined ASU’s Design School faculty where she served until 2022.
Nipuni now explores the intersection of design, play, and learning as a volunteer at the Exploratorium in San Francisco and divides her time between a wide range of freelance projects, from editorial design to interaction design research.
Design Research for Equitable Futures
As the unintended consequences of technological products continue to surface, there has been an increased interest in design research practices that explore alternative futures that push beyond our present reality. Speculative design, design fiction, and futures design are among the practices that offer promise in generating futures that act as catalysts for public debate and discussion about the kind of futures people really want.
In this session, attendees will explore various future-focused design research practices and methods, including real-world case studies. The session will also discuss the potential for future-focused design research to aid in creating more equitable futures and how to incorporate these practices into research processes.
Key questions that will be explored include:
The audience will learn. . .
