For the first time ever, we decided to dive in headfirst - or perhaps more accurately, lose our minds entirely - by submitting not just one, but two projects. We hosted a discussion and open studio night called 'Design Space for Work and Life', in addition to our experimental venture, 'Artificial Futures'. Let me walk you through what it was and why we decided to take the plunge.

It all kicked off a couple of months back when we caught wind that MDW was open for submissions. We were keen to get involved, partly to draw some eyeballs to our design studio, MASS, but also to dive deeper into the world of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and further our reputation as designers and creative technologists.

So, we got the team together and started brainstorming. You know how it goes - index cards pinned to the walls, exciting ideas flying left and right. We eventually landed on the concept of a website where users input a prompt and receive an AI-generated image in return. How we were going to build it? We had no clue at that point. That didn’t stop us bundling up our pitch, along with a few other ideas, sending off our application, and promptly forgetting about it. Then came the news - our idea was accepted.

I'll leave the ‘how we made it’ stuff to Ben, but let me tell you, these projects always take ages to design and make; always way longer than we think. And because we were our own client, we didn’t get paid for our time. We aren’t exactly a corporate giant, so that meant squeezing this work in between paid gigs and being careful not to overcommit. This project served multiple purposes for us, and I'd wager the same is true for our fellow contributors - an harmonious blend of brand exposure, creative experimentation, and skill-building.

Now, I have to confess - I harbour a healthy skepticism toward AI. Maybe it’s just my subconscious trying to protect itself, or maybe I’m instinctively safeguarding the value of human creativity. In doing so, I likely share perspective of those Arts and Crafts artisans who apprehensively watched the factories of the industrial age looming on the horizon. AI has the potential for so many applications, some brimming with promise, others raising concern. While it may pave the way for new career paths, it also threatens to render certain roles obsolete. The future, in this light, remains overshadowed by a big question mark. This uncertainty, interestingly enough, dovetailed perfectly with this year's MDW theme: 'Design the world you want'.

Design, by its very nature, is about transforming one state into a more preferable one. To 'design the world you want', we needed to imagine a better future, and that meant grappling with an essential truth - it’s impossible to imagine that future without first considering its present-day counterpart. What is wrong with today shaped what would be right about tomorrow. By exploring our aspirations for the future, we actually do more to describe the present - or at least, that was the idea we were playing with.

Throughout history, the creative arts have given form to societies hopes, dreams and fears of the future. Some visions championing a return to more nostalgic times, while others embracing the future and fetishising technology for all its promises of convenience, entertainment, leisure and productivity.

Let’s look at Futurism for a moment. This movement that started in Italy in the early 20th century, a time of great technological change and upheaval. The car, the airplane and the industrial city — all things that represented humanity’s technological triumph over nature. It was a backlash against traditional Italian Renaissance works, celebrating dynamism, speed, technology, youth, and the symbols of the modern age.

To me, Futurist artworks were all about fragments, frames, angles, and repeating forms. They seemed more interested in capturing the trajectory of objects through space than their actual form.

So, why am I talking about art history? Well, when we started this project, we quickly realised that AI-generated images tend to have a certain sameness to them. They have a weird quality - simultaneously the best and worst of creativity, and, to me, reminiscent of those airbrushed magazine illustrations, but from an 80s parallel universe.

We knew we needed to art direct these images to some extent, without completely sacrificing the ultimate and unpredictable element of surprise. While the images would ultimately be crowd sourced and rendered by AI, we wanted a bit of control over the final collection. Our solution, for better or worse, was to pay homage to the Futurist movement by sneaking in some specific prompts and making some assumptions about the sentiment behind them.

So what are we saying by using AI to generate images of the future while referencing a century-old art movement? Honestly, we aren’t entirely sure. Maybe it’s a comment on history, and life, repeating itself. It could be a cautionary tale about falling in love with new technology. Or, maybe, it’s just a chance to capture a snapshot of people's hopes and dreams, albeit in a very abstract way.

I wasn't entirely convinced we succeeded in fairly representing Futurist artwork. As it turned out, engineering the right prompts was actually pretty hard. Some of our examples might pass for abstract if you squint and have a generous attitude, but let's not kid ourselves - they’re a far cry from the real deal. To my art history teacher, I apologise for even suggesting otherwise. If nothing else, this project has been a humbling reminder of how much I still have to learn about Fine Art.

So there you have it. It was a labour of love, and we hope you like it. Whether it encourages you to think more deeply about the future, art, life or if it just provides a few minutes of entertainment, we’ll consider it a win.