Envisioning Cards

What are Envisioning Cards?

Designers often focus on the immediate context of use: how will a product be used by the person who purchases it? Designers rarely have the time to consider the long-term and indirect effects of their technologies. How will use of the product affect the user’s family and neighbors? If use of the product becomes common, how will it affect the larger community? How will people in a different culture adapt the product to their needs? What happens to the product after it’s thrown away?

The original set of Envisioning Cards contains 32 cards from the following suits: Stakeholders, Values, Time, and Pervasiveness. In 2018 a supplementary set of 13 cards were developed for a Multi-lifespan suit.

Sample Envisioning Cards

We invite you to download and experiment with a few sample envisioning cards. To download a specific card, click the image below; to download all five cards, click here.

We feel it is important to envision the long-term influence of new technology – as it spans across time, becomes pervasive throughout society, affects the lives of different stakeholders, and raises issues that touch human values. Based on nearly two decades of work on Value Sensitive Design, the Envisioning Cards are designed to evoke consideration and discussion of such concerns within the context of design practice.We feel it is important to envision the long-term influence of new technology – as it spans across time, becomes pervasive throughout society, affects the lives of different stakeholders, and raises issues that touch human values. Based on nearly two decades of work on Value Sensitive Design, the Envisioning Cards are designed to evoke consideration and discussion of such concerns within the context of design practice.