A Letter to The Future

This project was made in conjunction with the project’s dissertation, which was based on the question, How do we Design When Using Technolgy in Regard to The Othered. The notion of the discussion was based on the following readings from the Subaltern, Critical Race, and Black Feminist theory. The conclusion found that ‘Care’ over ‘Concern’ alleviates the possibilities of a design being both exclusive and restrictive to another group’s intersectionality. Using what was found in the discussion, the project created a manifesto that formulated a metalanguage around physical and digital spaces and how in turn they work interdependent to one another and affect an individual’s physical bodies. The manifesto highlights a list of ways in which designers can understand how to design when using tech. The project comes in 3 parts, with the first being the manifesto flag. The flag design uses a range of both African Adinkra symbols and theoretical models such as the matrix of domination and the wheel of intersectionality. Composing these shapes to emphasise the points made within the manifesto. Other small details range from using the rectangle shapes to represent the screens and 3D as well as artificially generated skies and seas to contrast the close mediation of the physical and digital landscape. The second part is a 3D model that allows the opportunity for the flag to be redesigned in line with the political climate as well as being able to live infinitely in the digital sphere without fear of being destroyed. The third part comes as a physical flag, which changes like ‘avatar’ to fit the user’s body and adapt to their culture dress wear. Alternatively, it can be used as a tool to conceal their body from surveillance as the QR codes will confuse CCTV which uses artificial intelligence, taking the machines to different resources of information around race and intersectional studies. The agenda of the project was to introduce the black and Asian experiences and wider marginalised group experiences to become visible within the tech industry, presenting my models powerful and god like as we demand to speak to the future.