Alicia Shao
Senior Service Designer
The LEGO Group
Alicia Shao is a Senior Service Designer at The LEGO Group, an external lecturer at the Köln International School of Design and L’École de Design Nantes Atlantique, and a most importantly, a futurist at heart. Alicia is an accomplished speaker, having presented at conferences worldwide on the importance of future thinking and the role of design in shaping the world to come. Driven by her deep passion for democratizing the future, Alicia is committed to increasing future literacy and making the futures into a playground for all.
Designing for Earth, on Mars
What can a course about life for Mars teach us about shaping the future of Earth? In this talk, you will explore with Alicia how the process of designing for an entirely new world can offer valuable lessons for addressing challenges on our own planet. Alicia will examine how different design approaches are used to envision new possibilities, delve into the relationship between time perception and the future, and explore the political dimensions of design and future. In the university project “Welcome to Mars,” where students were tasked with designing for a hypothetical government on Mars, they uncovered valuable insights that extend far beyond the Martian landscape, offering lessons for reimagining and responsibly shaping the future of our world. Join Alicia for a journey that challenges our perceptions and reflect on the broader implications of designing for the future and the significant responsibilities that designers hold in shaping it.
