Future Self

Developed with the Creating Ethics Infrastructures Lab at Georgia Tech Future Self is a design fiction that utilizes world building to create a tangible design artifact meant to prompt reflection and discussion from participants on topics related to current emerging technologies and the socio political factors of our rapidly changing digital landscape. Future Self is a fictional subscription service that promises it’s users help in achieving their ideal selves (both online and in real life) in exchange for large amounts of personal data.

Future Self is a lifestyle subscription service created by Future Self Industries that promises to help users achieve their “ideal selves.” The service is targeted towards individuals between the ages of 18 to 30 and places emphasis on being able to help users navigate the often times confusing stages of early adulthood. For $19.99 a month, users are given personalized recommendations for products that will help them achieve their goals. First time subscribers can also look forward to an automatic signup to Future Self Magazine. The magazine is limited to customers of the service - making it cult status item among certain fashion focused internet groups. Below is a detailed case study on the creation of Future Self Magazine Issue 1.

Future Self

Future Self is a lifestyle subscription service created by Future Self Industries that promises to help users achieve their “ideal selves.” The service is targeted towards individuals between the ages of 18 to 30 and places emphasis on being able to help users navigate the often times confusing stages of early adulthood. For $19.99 a month, users are given personalized recommendations for products that will help them achieve their goals. First time subscribers can also look forward to an automatic signup to Future Self Magazine. The magazine is limited to customers of the service - making it cult status item among certain fashion focused internet groups. Below is a detailed case study on the creation of Future Self Magazine Issue 1.

In the real world Future Self is a design fiction that utilizes world building to create a tangible design artifact meant to prompt reflection and discussion from participants on topics related to current emerging technologies and the socio political factors of our rapidly changing digital landscape.

The inspiration for Future Self came from a desire to understand Gen Z’s thoughts on data privacy and current emerging technologies. The project embodies topics such as; Data Privacy,Emerging Technologies, and Online Identity. The content on this page show the design work from the project as well as images from the first edition of “Future Self Magazine” a fictional magazine created to advertise the service. The project in its entirety was conducted over a period of two years and involved extensive research and user interviews. Read the full magazine here Future Self is a Design Fiction project developed with the Creating Ethics Infrastructures Lab at Georgia Tech. Partially inspired by Shoshana Zuboff’s theory of Surveillance Capitalism, Future Self is a fictional subscription service that promises it’s users help in achieving their ideal selves (both online and in real life) in exchange for large amounts of personal data.

Process

Online Identity and Virtual Persona

online consumerism and Marketing

AI and Emerging Technologies

Research

Extensive research was done in multiple areas to better inform the design work for Future Self. These areas include:

Data Privacy and Surveillance

Design

Key Design elements for the project included

Y2K

to appeal to gen z
to incorporate design into the subject material by using a style prominent during the dot com era

Prototype

Humor

To compliment the over the top design choices
to aid in communicating the subject matter to readers
to stress its fictional nature.

Plans were initially made for a prototype of the Future Self subscription service to be made and presented to interview participants. The structure of the website was planned out and a user persona was created. However, after reviewing the design material and getting early user feedback the choice was made to instead design a more tangible experience in the form of a magazine.

World Building

To immerse participants in the subject matter
to better inform the design of the artifact
to help in participant recruitment

While this iteration was ultimately discarded, designing the system for the subscription service helped better inform the final artifact.

Artifact

The content of the magazine is made up of fictional articles and advertisements that engages readers in the world of Future Self while also presenting multiple design artifacts that infer possible futures.

‘Digital Dolls’ is one of the design artifacts in Future Self Magazine. A digital product that lets users select a deepfake to use instead of their own image. Digital Dolls is marketed as an internet safety tool to readers.

User Study