Visualizing the Ledger: Teaching Blockchain as Design Material

Blockchain is an infrastructural technology with the potential to fundamentally transform how people transact, trust, collaborate, organise and identify themselves. However, harnessing this potential in technology design and development is not trivial as expected. In this work, we engage students in using blockchain (and its values) as design material. In three workshops with different student samples, we explored different pedagogical viewpoints in creating speculative design projects on blockchain. Drawing from an analysis of six design projects (from peer-to-peer energy trading to digital art ownership), we examine how students applied blockchain values in their works, including misalignments between perceived potential and practical feasibility, misconceptions of values and engagement with broader socio-technical challenges. This pictorial highlights the pedagogical value of design-led exploration in unpacking emerging technologies, underscoring the importance of interdisciplinary speculation and collaboration to navigate blockchain's conceptual and infrastructural complexities.