An effective toolkit is not a list of techniques to accumulate — it is a sequence of exercises that build on each other. Each exercise has a precise goal and a tangible output. Here are four pillars we often use in Relatronica labs.
Signal scanning: give participants articles, headlines, photos, data or observations from the present. Ask them to identify "weak signals" — marginal phenomena today that could become dominant tomorrow. An example: the growing normalisation of remote work, water restrictions in drought-stricken cities, the use of AI to moderate content. Group signals by theme and ask: "If this trend accelerated, what plausible world would emerge?".
Artefact brief: once a scenario is chosen, translate it into a design task. The brief answers: who uses the artefact? In which year or context does it exist? What problem does it solve or what tension does it reveal? What value or norm of the future world does it embody? Example: "User manual for the Climate Passport, 2038 — document every citizen must present to travel, with a score based on carbon footprint". The brief guides production without limiting creativity.
Catalogue page: inspired by Julian Bleecker's Design Fiction Product Catalogue (Near Future Laboratory), ask groups to create a catalogue page — like IKEA's, but for a future product. Include name, description, price (if relevant), image or sketch, and a sentence that reveals the world it exists in. Browsing a 2045 catalogue makes the future familiar and debatable: "Would you buy it? Would you want it? Who would be excluded?".
Role-play: turn the scenario into a short scene. Participants take roles (citizen, official, entrepreneur, activist) and act in a moment of tension from the imagined future. Stuart Candy calls this "experiential futures": the future is not presented, it is lived. After 10–15 minutes of role-play, debrief: what emerged? What assumptions were challenged? What surprised you?
Minimal materials, maximum impact: paper, pens, post-its, printed templates (brief, catalogue, signal card). Time per exercise: 20–45 minutes depending on depth. Facilitation means keeping pace, asking provocative questions and preventing the group from staying in abstraction.
Combine exercises in sequence: signal scanning → light world-building → artefact brief → catalogue page or role-play. The final output can be exhibited, shared online or used as input for real decisions — the lab does not end when the session ends.