Design Futures (MDes)

A close up photo of two students in the midst of a workshop, with an array of images and text laid out in front of them on a table.

The MDes Design Futures students bring together a wide collection of responses to the deep uncertainties of our time. This year’s projects explore the intersections of society, humans, nature and technology from reimagining systems of care and digital life to renewing connections between people and the natural environment. Using design and futures methodologies, students develop narratives, strategies, provocations and tools for change. Their work reflects a commitment to thoughtful, intentional practice that invites reflection, dialogue and action in a complex world.

 

Image : FTD Workshop 2025

Our students

RCA2025 Exhibition Yingning Chen
Pandemic Playbook - Understanding the system through a complex system map and a causal layered analysis Sacchita Nandi Sriganapathiraju
The Diary of Futures: Book Cover Hamza ‘Leo’ Aytac Dalgalidere
Citizen Thinking Framework Sanyukta Mathure
Antara Kamath Antara Kamath
Stakeholder roles in a Black Soldier Fly pet food system. Rui He
Pandemic Playbook - Understanding the problem through a complex system map and a causal layered analysis. Sacchita Sriganapathiraju
Design Proposition and Interventions Puyuan Yang (Carrie)
Future of Heritage Craft Lin Li
A table top exhibition with proposed outcomes Har Suyash Bahadur Sinha
A color halftone-style picture. The picture shows two ships and the background is mountains. There are three people walking along the shore. Yue Zhang
A girl standing under a tree, wearing a red top, is looking at the camera. Zifeng Zhao
Exhibition poster Baile An
The Tales of Natural Intelligence Neha Reddy
Immersive Space Xiaoling Zhang
Filippo presenting his IRP: Attuning Taste through a guided sensory analysis of flavour to two guests during the exhibition week. Filippo Torlonia
This is a cover page of the project created by Jiali Qin, that depict the futures of human and algae scenario. Jiali Qin
A visual poster for VERA showing a dual-lens information analysis diagram with text explaining its functions and applications in detecting misinformation. Peipei Liu
Exhibition Table Bettina Man
Plankton Photo Yike Chen
Harijs portrait photo on white background. Harijs Lukevics
Exhibition Poster Yufei Lu
This is a poster shows my independent research project Enze Lian
Grid chart visualizing social, technological, economic, environmental, and political factors influencing digital legacy, with icons and brief insights across each category. Jiannuo Lu
A man and a woman wearing matching beige harness-like devices stand face to face in an urban outdoor setting. Above their faces, augmented reality-style graphics display “LOVE 0.98” over the man and “ERROR 404” over the woman, each surrounded by node-like data visuals. The title “CUPIDASTIC” appears at the bottom, suggesting a speculative exploration of algorithmic affection. Hanna Park
The “CoBreath Futures” promotional poster shows a strategy map representing the three perspectives from which CoBreath is approaching the event. The poster includes details of events at the RCA Design Futures Expo 2025. Xuanjie Wang
cover Julian Yutong Zhu
Figma Nan Shen
The Power of Poop Xinyu Fang
1.Sustainable development becomes the mainstream 2.More residents in first-tier cities demand health, personalization and comfort 3.Fabric and fiber technology is undergoing iteration 4.Policies supporting clothing become more sustainable Wenjinhan Chen
IRP Final Poster Zixiang Feng（Bob）
poster Zhaochuan Fang
Image of a Speculative Design Framework called the Evershift Framework that has a Player state model, feedback layer, experience dynamics, adaptive mechanics and player archetypes Kevin Morris
10041175@network.rca.ac.uk Yanbo Zeng
Future of Logistics Work Fangzhou Wu
Retirement plan Tarot card, with 4 set of cards: 1. When will you retire, 2. Retire with who, 3. Doing which activities, 4. In which location, the cards patten is in red, white, blue and black which is the most common patten use in Hong Kong's moving bags Libby Wong
An image filled with yellow cards with text. One card in the centre is flipped to reveal the name of the deck: Climate x Borders. Swarali Pandare
Coral-Sync Gate illustration Si Wu
Poster of the project "Weaving new roles", by Elsa Parrot Elsa Parrot
Asmita presenting her work Asmita Mehta
Poster of final exhibition Chiara Patatti
Futures of Grocery Consumers 2035 Jayavanthi Gayathri Ravindran
Space model demonstration and interactive workshop in the exhibition Boran Zhang
A 2.5D illustration visualises the conceptual scene of the future Emotional Alchemy Lab (EAL), accompanied by a brief written description outlining the core concept. Xinyi Xue
A white‑haired elderly man sits on the edge of a bed in a softly lit bedroom, facing a humanoid metal robot that is extending its arm to shake his hand. Yuxi Zhang
A new vision for housing in Cornwall, responding to the housing crisis driven by over-tourism. Zhiying Yu
Poster : Yifei Xu Yifei Xu
poster production Hongyu Zhang
poster Shiwei Zhou
Poster Guoxiang Yang
Project Poster Ciara Harris
Interactive Board Ria Shah
Close-up photo of the inside of an old desktop computer with colourful stickers and metallic silver and green wires and cables all over it. Wael Alkaydi
On the plinth are three jars and red balls and some cards and booklets. Jiaxin Zhang
A young man with short, wavy hair that is dark with light highlights smiles broadly at the camera. He has a trimmed mustache and goatee, and wears a green crew-neck sweater and small hoop earrings. The background features a warmly lit interior with wooden grid-like panels and soft ambient light. Igor Caetano
The Future of Human Hair Collection for 2050 Douce De Boisgelin