GenAI as Objects-to-Think-With in Postdigital Design Education

This paper presents a Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) workflow designed to support postgraduate design students in exploring future scenarios through storytelling and visualisation. These AI-generated narratives and visuals function as objects-to-think-with, allowing students to articulate amorphous design ideas and iteratively refine them through reflection and dialogue. Rather than relying on fixed design outcomes, the process encourages students to personalise their practices and develop critical engagement with emerging technologies. By co-producing sociotechnical imaginaries, students critically examine and reshape dominant visions of the future, fostering deeper design understanding and reflexivity. This study positions GenAI as a catalyst for postdigital design education, where technological experimentation meets critical, situated learning.

keywords: postdigital design education; futures design; generative AI

• with: Sandris Zeivots (lead), Jack Webster, Laura Ann Chubb, Xin Wang, Antonia Scholkmann, Stefan Hrastinski, Olov Engwall, Lilia Mantai, Alison Casey, Tiffany Winchester, Tiffany Winchester, Henrik Dindas, Frank P. Schulte, Wina Smeenk, Marieke van Dijk, Belinda Paulovich, Diego Muñoz, Joanne Mignone, Rebecca Godwin
• year: April 2025 — ongoing