Perhaps our most unconventional and thought-provoking category, Speculative Concepts, aims to push the boundaries of design past the point of what is currently possible—to use design as a means to explore and challenge, to hypothesize and critique, and, above all, to promote discourse. The field of speculative design invites designers to think discursively and independently, while ignoring present limitations. For our Speculative Concept category, we specifically asked for, "all conceptual or proposal designs, whether self-initiated for further insight, discourse, intervention or exploration, or created as speculative designs for a client or educational institution."

At the helm of our Speculative Concepts category this year were co-captains Bruce and Stephanie Tharp, Founders of Materious. Bruce and Stephanie were joined by Julia Lohmann, Professor for Design at the University of Fine Arts, Hamburg, Matt Malpass, Lecturer at the University of the Arts, London, Central Saint Martins, and Thomas Thwaites, Founder of Thomas Thwaites Studio. Jury Captain Stephanie Tharp outlines several criteria that she and the rest of the jurors used to evaluate the projects: "the content, the depth of the research, the problem opportunity that the designers were looking to solve or create, the framing of the project, the communication of the work, the refinement of the artifact and how it was visualized, and lastly, the potential for impact."

Upon reviewing the work, Julia Lohmann felt that, "there were a lot of really exciting student projects." 

Core77 would like to express our deepest gratitude to the entire Speculative Concept Jury Team for recognizing the following projects: