Assembling Tomorrow • A Guide to Designing a Thriving Future

by Scott Doorley & Carissa Carter

Learn how to use the readily accessible tools of design to both mend the mistakes of our past and shape our future for the better.

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A look at how to use readily accessible tools of design to both mend the mistakes of our past and shape our future for the better.

Assembling Tomorrow explores the intangibles, the mysterious forces that contribute to the oﬀ-kilter feelings of today, and follows up with actionables to help you alter your perspective and ﬁnd opportunities in these turbulent times. Mixed throughout are histories of the future, short pieces of speculative ﬁction that illustrate how things go haywire and what might be in store if we don’t set them straight.

Related Resources

Join the d.school Book Club featuring this book. Learn more here.
Interested in trying out an activity from the book? You can test out design methods and mindsets from the Educators' Guide here, designed for classroom use. Download Educators' Guide here.

*We’re excited to be collaborating with The Shop at MATTER, an independent, Black- & woman-owned bookstore serving designers and other thinking persons in community. They will fulfill all book orders, manage the shipping, and answer any book order questions you may have.

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About the Authors

Carissa Carter is a designer, geoscientist, and the academic director at the Stanford d.school. She guides the development of the d.school’s pedagogy, leads its instructors, and shapes its class offerings. She is the author of The Secret Language of Maps: How to Tell Visual Stories with Data and teaches design courses on emerging technologies, climate change, and data visualization. Her work on designing with machine learning and blockchain has earned multiple design awards, including Fast Company Innovation and Core 77 Design awards.

Scott Doorley is a writer, designer, and the creative director at the Stanford d.school. He has overseen everything from books to workspaces to digital products and initiatives focused on the future of learning and design. He co-wrote the book Make Space: How to Set the Stage for Creative Collaboration and teaches courses in design communication. His work has been featured in museums from San Jose to Helsinki and in publications such as Architecture + Urbanism and The New York Times.

About the Illustrator

Armando Veve is an award-winning illustrator and 2023 Pew Fellow whose drawings have appeared in The New Yorker, National Geographic, Scientific American, MIT Technology Review, and Wired, among other publications. He studied illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design and currently resides in Philadelphia.

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