Design Beyond Vision

Visionary Future is a poster exhibition showcasing postgraduate student work from Raffles Design Institute, exploring the intersection of sustainability, emerging technology, and inclusive innovation. It highlights how design thinking and management strategies can shape solutions for tomorrow’s most pressing challenges.

The exhibition features projects developed across three modules: Design Future for Sustainable Thinking, Wearable Technology, and Final Major Projects. Each work reflects a forward-thinking approach, with themes rooted in environmental responsibility, technological integration, and human-centred empathy.

Student projects explore AI-enhanced user experiences, sustainable business strategies, and speculative future scenarios, demonstrating how creative thinking can be harnessed to address social and environmental needs.

Aligned with the Singapore Design Week pillars of “Design Impact” and “Design Future,” this exhibition celebrates design’s power to make a difference today while envisioning tomorrow’s world.

Top Image: The programme artworks are designed by Terrence Chong Meng Leong using Adobe Illustrator software and exported as PNG or JPEG

Empathy Lab is a three-day immersive journey into design, empathy, and imagination, set within the familiar setting of a hawker centre, reimagined through a non-visual lens.

Each day begins with the Empathy Game, where participants navigate a simulated hawker environment and complete everyday tasks such as finding a seat, ordering food, or returning trays, all without the use of sight. Guided by mission cards and immersive soundscapes, participants earn points for creativity, independence, and thoughtful use of non-visual cues.

This is followed by a pause for reflection at the Interactive Reflection Wall, where thoughts and experiences can be expressed through doodles, audio recordings, or written messages, forming a collective tapestry of insights.

In the afternoon, participants join the Empathy Workshop, where students, designers, and members of the community come together to co-create inclusive design ideas. From tactile wayfinding and thoughtful furniture arrangements to assistive technologies, the focus is on generating solutions that make public spaces more accessible for all.

Part game, part workshop, and part emotional journey, Empathy Lab challenges the senses and expands perspectives, inviting all to design with empathy, guided by what is felt rather than what is seen.

Top Image: The programme artworks are designed by Terrence Chong Meng Leong using Adobe Illustrator software and exported as PNG or JPEG