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Speculative Design Showcase

Fall 2024
My first senior design showcase centered around the practice of speculative design. I focused my work around seed manufacturers in a future affected by climate change where crops can’t grow and people rely on one biologically engineered plant to survive.
Newspaper about project personas
Main poster
Newspaper about the famine


The full exhibit display



This showcase was a labour of love derived from my experience working in agriculture in university. The exhibit warns the viewer about a speculative but probable future afflicted with famine and an uninhabitable climate. It centers around the idea of a plant genetically modified to survive any weather condition. 

The plant is called Superesse Deum, meaning ‘to survive god’ in Latin, and is produced by the dubious Essen Seed Company- an industrial manufacturer based in Detroit with a suspicious meddling in agriculture. 

Superesse Deum is designed to be unsettling. I use symmetry in numerous instances to portray it as unnatural and depict its interior as something reminiscent of raw meat. Every part of the plant is edible, something I communicate through a series of recipe cards. The newspapers provide context about crop failure and the three personas I developed around the product. The personas include a farmer, an urban family and the deer population, all of which have a unique relationship to Superesse Deum.






The exhibit display itself is arranged and designed to represent a farmer’s work table. This collection of artifacts communicates this farmer’s investigation into this suspicious plant.

I do not use any photos in any of my materials. Instead, I used Procreate to digitally draw and paint all of my imagery. I used a couple different illustration styles across my collection starting with a sketchy style using a digital coloured pencil brush. When it came to the main poster, I spent many hours trying to develop a digital process that would mimic the texture of old botanical illustrations. Eventually I was able to capture the style with masks and a grain brush. I use that technique in the recipe cards and supporting poster in tandem with the colour pencil technique.

   
The initial sketches of all of my artifacts together

After conducting my research on the seed industry, I started to sketch with the big picture in mind. It was important that all of my materials supported each other and felt balanced. I started mocking up elements in Procreate knowing what kind of artifacts I wanted to include.

This showcase takes a lot of inspiration from vintage design because I wanted it to feel like a future ‘going backwards’. I use a lot of textures to roughen up the material and make my designs feel physical.

This was an incredibly collaborative process despite being a solo project. I used feedback from my peers and professors to refine and improve upon my work throughout the entirety of the endeavor.
Newspaper designs screenprinted at Anchor Press, Milwaukee
A series of three recipe cards using the Superesse Deum plant as the main ingredient