Trends as Future Prompts in the Anticipatory Design Practice

The article raises the question of how the future is generated and comes alive within design practice, in particular, discussing themeaning and specific role of trend research and its applications in the definition of the anticipatory nature of design practice. The article provides insights from a theoretical understanding of anticipatory design practice. It combines this with speculative reflection on the contribution of a specific reading model of trend research to the definition of the anticipatory nature of the design practice. The related research processes are reflected in the structure of the article. The next section aims to depict the background of design and anticipation relationship and define their common nature. Section three frames Metadesign as a way in which anticipatory knowledge is embedded in the design practice. The fourth section paragraph reveals how the anticipatory nature of design practice may offer a new interpretation of the meaning of trend research. There follows a fifth section that introduces trend research within the perspective of a design practice aimed at anticipation, highlighting its meanings and contents. Finally, the article closes with a section that offers insights on the contribution of trends into the generation of futures and more generally on different uses of trends along the design process.