Prismatic reflection: Educational understanding of crisis-ready speculative augmentation design

This study explores how crisis and speculative design inform human augmentation in uncertain contexts. Through an 11-week co-speculation workshop with 15 cross-disciplinary undergraduates, we identify key design elements for crisis-driven augmentation. It reveals how crisis awareness catalyses innovative solutions, emphasising interdisciplinary collaboration, ethical debate, and user empathy. Building on these insights, we propose ‘The Prismatic Refraction Map for Speculative Augmentation Design’, offering a structured pathway that reconsiders augmentation’s roles and responsibilities. Students produced five ‘Future Augmentation Abstracts’, balancing functionality with broader social and cultural concerns. The study underscores speculative design’s ability to shape sustainable futures, allowing students to envision crisis through a critical lens and propose ethically and socially responsible augmentation solutions. The proposed method and map provide design educators with actionable guidance for integrating crisis contexts into pedagogy, fostering holistic design thinking that anticipates emergent challenges.