Books — Consumed

2013 · Anthony Dunne & Fiona Raby

Speculative Everything fundamentally changed how designers think about their role. Instead of design as service to industry, Dunne and Raby argue for design as a form of critical thinking—a way to question assumptions, explore consequences, and imagine alternatives. The book is packed with examples of speculative projects that use design artifacts as props for debate rather than products for consumption.

What makes this book essential is how it gives permission. Permission to make things that won't sell, to ask uncomfortable questions, to design for discourse rather than markets. The writing is clear and provocative, moving between theory and practice without getting lost in either. They distinguish between affirmative design (solving problems within existing systems) and critical design (questioning the systems themselves).

The methodologies here—design fiction, critical design, speculative design—have become standard tools in design education and practice. But the book's real value is philosophical: it reframes design as a form of authorship and intellectual inquiry. For anyone working at the intersection of design, technology, and society, this is required reading. It's not about learning techniques, it's about understanding what design can be when it refuses to just make things easier.