Speculative Design Futures - Micro-credential
The Certificate in Speculative Design Futures is suitable for designers and creatives practitioners from all disciplines interested in designing a positive future for all (people and planet).
| Award Name | Special Purpose Certificate (Level 9 NFQ) |
|---|---|
| NFQ Classification | Special Purpose |
| Awarding Body | Institute of Art Design and Technology |
| NFQ Level | Level 9 NFQ |
| Award Name | NFQ Classification | Awarding Body | NFQ Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Special Purpose Certificate (Level 9 NFQ) | Special Purpose | Institute of Art Design and Technology | Level 9 NFQ |
Duration
The course will be delivered on a blended format.
Entry Requirements
Minimum Entry Requirements
• Undergraduate qualification of 2nd Class Honours or higher at Honours Degree level in design or a related discipline.
• Applicants may also be considered provided that they can demonstrate Honours Degree equivalence, which can be verified through our RPL [recognition of prior learning] process.
Portfolio: Yes
Further information
Register your interest in the September 2026 intake by emailing microcreds@iadt.ie
10
€1,100.
CFA Scholarship:
A CFA scholarship encourages the participation of learners from sections of society that are significantly under-represented in higher education by offering one free place on all of our CFA short courses.
Find out if you are eligible to apply at: https://creativefuturesacademy.ie/scholarships-bursaries/
Fill in the CFA@IADT scholarship application form at: https://iadt.formstack.com/forms/cfa_scholarship
What is Speculative Design Futures?
What does the future hold for us all? Well, instead of wondering, why not design it?
The Certificate in Speculative Design Futures is a new course suitable for designers and creatives practitioners from all disciplines interested in designing a positive future for all (people and planet). The course will equip you with futures thinking literacy and the practical speculative design skills needed to engage critically with the uncertainty and complexity of wicked problems that exist in our world today. From the urgency of climate change, and pervasive new technologies, to the precarity of peace and the search for tolerance and inclusion, the need for creative and concrete alternative visions of our futures must be envisaged. Our course will provide you with a set of critical thinking and making tools that will enable you to confront futures design challenges with confidence.
During the course, you will:
• Be guided through a range of futures and speculative design thinking, approaches, processes and methods as you learn about how to map time and describe future design contexts.
• Apply a range of interdisciplinary research and foresight methods to question and analyse the social, environmental, economic and political impact of predicted future trends and emerging technologies.
• Explore new ways to practice in the creation of speculative design prototypes, narratives and probes that demonstrate alterative and concrete visions of the future.
Course content will include:
• Introduction to Speculative Design, approaches, philosophies and case studies
• Defining speculative goals and values
• Scoping a speculative design futures project
• Speculative and Critical Design principles
• Futures research
• Design Fiction principles
• Mapping time and systems
• World building
• Emotional design
• Experimental design prototypes
• Participatory group exercises and charrette
• Project presentations
You will be assessed through class participation and two assignments:
• A group design workshop (online or in person)
• Speculative design futures project / prototype and report (independent learning 50 hours approx.).
Admissions Queries
Email: admissions@iadt.ie