Historically, design has primarily addressed a certain clients needs. Through speculative design, this situation is questioned, as designers shift their focus from an immediate problem-solving approach to a new approach. This new approach sees design as a medium for asking questions and opening issues for discussion. Speculative design is not concerned with the needs of the commercial market, but rather deals with a broader social context and the ethical, cultural and societal implications new technologies may bring. To achieve this in a satisfactory and plausible way, traditional borders between disciplines must be broken.
As James Auger (Royal College of Art, London) puts it: "[speculative] design (1) moves away from the constraints of the commercial practice (steered by the market); (2) uses fiction and speculates on future products, services, systems and worlds, thus reflectively examining the role and impact of new technologies on everyday life; (3) and initiates dialogue between experts (scientists, engineers and designers) and users of new technologies (the audience)."
Source: http://speculative.hr/en/introduction-to-speculative-design-practice/
Alternative presents and speculative futures. Here and now: everyday life and real products available on the market. The higher the line, the more emergent the technology and the longer and less predictable the transit to everyday life. Speculative futures exist as projections of the lineage in future. The alternative reality presents a shift from the lineage at some point in the past to re-imagine our technological present. (Source: http://speculative.hr/en/introduction-to-speculative-design-practice/)
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Source: http://speculative.hr/en/introduction-to-speculative-design-practice/
Intro to Speculative Design http://speculative.hr/en/introduction-to-speculative-design-practice/