Future Orientations to Everyday Life: Futures Anthropology as a Methodology
Summary
Key Insights
-
•
Time is experienced uniquely by each individual, influencing how we relate to the present and future.
-
•
UX research is inherently future-focused but lacks frameworks to understand how users conceptualize the future.
-
•
Futures anthropology is a cross-cultural, ethnographic approach that centers the future as an object of study.
-
•
Six distinct future orientations—expectation, anticipation, speculation, potential, hope, and destiny—offer lenses to analyze user mindset and behavior.
-
•
These orientations overlap and manifest differently throughout a user journey, revealing emotional and cognitive states.
-
•
In practical UX work, futures anthropology helps identify user needs and informs design and feature prioritization, as shown in Nicole’s government funding application project.
-
•
Speculation often appears as hesitation or pauses in user behavior, signaling uncertainty about future outcomes.
-
•
Hope and destiny reflect positive and fixed narratives users hold about their futures, which can be critical for motivation or mindset.
-
•
Not all communities have equal access to future orientations; marginalized groups may face constrained or different future imaginaries.
-
•
Integrating futures anthropology requires reflexivity in research identity and methodology, extending from data collection to team collaboration and strategic planning.
Notable Quotes
"There are over 7 billion futures of right now."
"How we orient ourselves to the future impacts how we experience the present."
"Expectation describes how things ought to be and reinforces the distinction between the present and what is not yet here."
"Anticipation involves preparatory actions to manage uncertainty about future conditions."
"Speculation fills in the gaps where past experience fails us, often seen in hesitation or pauses."
"Potential refers to not yet actualized possibilities that may or may not come to fruition."
"Hope generates optimistic momentum towards a possibility becoming real."
"Destiny is the belief that a certain future outcome is predetermined regardless of the path."
"Not everyone has the same capacity to aspire to a future; this is critical when working with marginalized communities."
"We have a role to play in democratizing the future and amplifying more visions of what that future can hold."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"When we say if only I could get that executive to think differently, we’re actually giving them power over us."
Matt LeMayYou Don’t “Get” Anyone to Do Anything
December 6, 2022
"Culture isn’t just behavior over time, it’s the artifacts that culture creates and embraces over time."
Phil GilbertA Consistent Culture of Design
May 14, 2015
"Enterprise UX is about delivering strong experiences in an enterprise setting, which ain’t easy."
Louis RosenfeldWelcome / Housekeeping
June 6, 2023
"You can't be neutral on a moving train."
Rachael Dietkus, LCSWThe power to heal and harm
March 13, 2025
"Broadcasting all new research leverages the halo that new content naturally has inside organizations."
Jake BurghardtFinding More Inroads into Research Impact
February 20, 2026
"Research operations is the people, mechanisms and strategies that set user research in motion."
Fatimah RichmondThe Future of ReOps as a Strategic Function: A Roadmap for Getting There
March 25, 2024
"Every group has their own vocabulary that signals belonging, but jargon can become a barrier to understanding."
Joshua GravesWe Need To Talk: Managing Ludicrous Requests at Work (Part 3 of 3)
May 12, 2025
"Depersonalizing the situation is a huge winner in nearly any hard conversation."
Joshua GravesWe Need To Talk: Navigating Conversations with Your Boss (Part 1 of 3)
April 14, 2025
"I’ve become a subversive designer because I’m now considered a product leader using prioritization at the organizational level."
Harry MaxPriority Zero: Some Things are More Equal than Others
June 9, 2016
