Future Orientations to Everyday Life: Futures Anthropology as a Methodology
Summary
UX research is inherently future-oriented. As researchers, we are often on the lookout to understand what users expect, what they anticipate to happen, and what they hope will come next. How we orient ourselves towards the future is part of how we experience the present. By drawing attention to the nuances of different future orientations in everyday life, we can unlock new depths of understanding to improve product and service design. Join this session to learn how to center the future as an object of study and apply frameworks from futures anthropology to advance tactical and strategic research.
Key Insights
-
•
Time is experienced uniquely by each individual, influencing how we relate to the present and future.
-
•
UX research is inherently future-focused but lacks frameworks to understand how users conceptualize the future.
-
•
Futures anthropology is a cross-cultural, ethnographic approach that centers the future as an object of study.
-
•
Six distinct future orientations—expectation, anticipation, speculation, potential, hope, and destiny—offer lenses to analyze user mindset and behavior.
-
•
These orientations overlap and manifest differently throughout a user journey, revealing emotional and cognitive states.
-
•
In practical UX work, futures anthropology helps identify user needs and informs design and feature prioritization, as shown in Nicole’s government funding application project.
-
•
Speculation often appears as hesitation or pauses in user behavior, signaling uncertainty about future outcomes.
-
•
Hope and destiny reflect positive and fixed narratives users hold about their futures, which can be critical for motivation or mindset.
-
•
Not all communities have equal access to future orientations; marginalized groups may face constrained or different future imaginaries.
-
•
Integrating futures anthropology requires reflexivity in research identity and methodology, extending from data collection to team collaboration and strategic planning.
Notable Quotes
"There are over 7 billion futures of right now."
"How we orient ourselves to the future impacts how we experience the present."
"Expectation describes how things ought to be and reinforces the distinction between the present and what is not yet here."
"Anticipation involves preparatory actions to manage uncertainty about future conditions."
"Speculation fills in the gaps where past experience fails us, often seen in hesitation or pauses."
"Potential refers to not yet actualized possibilities that may or may not come to fruition."
"Hope generates optimistic momentum towards a possibility becoming real."
"Destiny is the belief that a certain future outcome is predetermined regardless of the path."
"Not everyone has the same capacity to aspire to a future; this is critical when working with marginalized communities."
"We have a role to play in democratizing the future and amplifying more visions of what that future can hold."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Imagine a world where the government prototypes and iterates the whole time."
Sofía Delsordo Kassim VeraPublic Policy for Jalisco's Designers to Make Design Matter
December 8, 2021
"Design needs to balance business strategy and technology limitations but always keep users centered."
Product and Design at Bloomberg: A 15-year Evolution
December 6, 2022
"The biggest struggle was recruiting and scheduling participants, so we started a shared Google sheet."
Liza Pemstein Jane DavisScaling Research Via an Ops First Model at Clever
March 27, 2023
"Legislation like the US executive order on federal customer experience has helped us rebuild trust in government."
Kara KaneTheme One Intro
November 16, 2022
"AI can accelerate prioritization tasks, but the final judgment must come from humans who understand context."
Mark Interrante Harry MaxAI for Prioritization (3rd of 3 seminars)
July 11, 2024
"Confidence is critical in online shopping because nobody wants to spend money they’re unsure about losing due to unclear controls."
Sam ProulxOnline Shopping: Designing an Accessible Experience
October 3, 2023
"Assume good intent, start with empathy — we’re all doing hard things we can't do well alone."
Rich MironovHow Can Product Managers and UXers Help Each Other (and Why are Product Folks so Annoying Sometimes)?
December 6, 2022
"Why the hell would you wanna move the furniture?—Gropius on design arrogance."
Juhan SoninDesign Now! The Agenda for Action
September 4, 2025
"Women’s empowerment is often glorified but doesn’t necessarily meet their needs beneath the surface."
Mansi GuptaDrawing from Feminist Practice to Make Inclusive Design Operational
September 9, 2022
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
What strategies help UX teams translate usability findings into stakeholder-relevant outcomes like cost savings or risk reduction?
How do I determine the shelf life or expiry date of different types of research insights?
In what ways does the Rosenbot promote self-directed, on-demand learning for UX professionals?