“Nick is the uninhibited master of design as a means for translation and clarity. He finds the soft underbelly of ideas, listens at the door of culture, clears away the tangle of hyperbole - and reveals those few notes that matter.”

/ CHARLIE SUTTON - HEAD OF DESIGN - FACEBOOK/META /

Focusing on flexibility

There’s a tendency within the design community to debate the minutiae of design processes, but when producing future-facing work, a dogmatic adherence to any single process can be self-defeating.

In order to account for the natural variances within any future oriented project, Nick has applied an intentionally broad set of techniques to his work. This has included elements of physical prototyping, storyboarding, film-making, print and graphic design, motion design, animation, industrial design and interaction design. In leading teams, he seeks out a willingness to experiment with techniques and tools, combined with a strong understanding of real human needs and the ability to rapidly generate relatable, understandable and actionable proposals.

In parallel, Nick has found considerable success in translating design approaches for non-design partners. Much of his work centers on finding language and techniques which can bring product and user focus into relevancy for scientists, engineers, business strategists, entrepreneurs and developers, helping to embed design literacy and advocacy into large, multifaceted organizations.

Leading a crit with the Design team at X

Leading emerging practices

Nick is well known for the approach he developed through The Future Mundane, which introduced new ways of engaging with the future, by focusing on the inevitable practicalities and pragmatic questions of any future product, service or system. By continually pushing the relationship between design and emerging technologies, Nick has become a leading figure in academia and design discourse, and was the first Futures Designer to be awarded the title ‘Royal Designer for Industry’.

For over a decade Nick was a partner at The Near Future Laboratory, a seminal futures collective which developed the exploratory practice of Design Fiction. He remains an active member of many speculative and critical design communities, both in academia and through his advisory roles.

‘Domingo’s Nightstand’ - exploratory Design Fiction scene for a futures investigation at X.

Learning through sharing

The process of creating long-form written content helps bring sprawling collections of thoughts together into a coherent whole, and has been central to Nick’s approach for many years. In 2022, he co-authored ‘The Manual of Design Fiction’, and is currently working on his first full length book project, to be published in the summer of 2025 by MCD Books in the USA and Canongate in Europe.

Nick also frequently steps into teaching roles, not only to share his approaches through structured lectures or tutorials, but as a means to stay abreast of emerging techniques, tools and subject matter. He has taught at many of the world’s most highly respected design schools including the Royal College of Art, Goldsmiths University, Art Center College of Design and Tongji University in Shanghai.