Futuring
The project began with a futuring exercise in collaboration with design theorist Søren Rosenbak, where we mapped possible scenarios for various futures. These narratives formed the foundation for both the concept and its aesthetic direction.
Worldbuilding
Together, the class imagined a “playful, reactive future” shaped by accumulated discrepancies, where the world has fractured into segregated enclaves and challenges are navigated through acts of playfulness.
I was interested in how this future could affect childrens lifes, so I researched UNICEF’s predictions on children’s lives. They suggest that demographic shifts may affect children’s close relationships, with many growing up without siblings, and that digital technologies could play an important role in helping children maintain friendships with peers their own age. (Unicef 2024)
The brand I developed is called Sibling Dearest. It is an initiative aimed at connecting children in sibling like way, in a segregated, somewhat dystopian future. Many have formed close relationships with AI companions, and their accommodating nature fails to teach children basic emotional skills such as frustration tolerance, negotiation, and social depth. This has reinforced a culture of fast, disposable relationships.
The branding I designed, Is supposed to empethize the values of empathy, connection and warmth.
Brandbook ->
Product & Interface
This product is one of several initiatives designed to connect children. It links them through a randomly assigned sibling network across enclaves and encourages relationships that unfold over the course of childhood. By drawing on the dynamics of sibling relationships, it aims to cultivate emotional skills that are otherwise missing, while also bringing future enclaves closer together.
Sibling relationship principles->
Network of 'siblings' ->
Selected Key frames ->
Walkie-talkie mode
Simulating the non-negotiable act of walking into your sibling’s room.
Only for contact with your two 'siblings'
Transition between Lo-fi and hi-fi
The artifact is intentionally restrained. On its own, it offers little stimulation and resists becoming an object of passive engagement. Its more playful expressions only emerge through shared use with one of a child’s assigned “siblings,” allowing play to unfold through connection.
Reflections and learnings
What excited me most about this project was the worldbuilding and the storytelling behind it. Seeing how a future narrative could come alive through a made-up artefact was both powerful and fascinating. I enjoyed exploring which values could be central to this world and how they might be implemented, as well as reflecting on what kind of world we, as designers, are shaping for the future.
+Storytelling +UX-design
2025
Contact
© Alma Bülow
Reflections and learnings
What excited me most about this project was the worldbuilding and the storytelling behind it. Seeing how a future narrative could come alive through a made-up artefact was both powerful and fascinating. I enjoyed exploring which values could be central to this world and how they might be implemented, as well as reflecting on what kind of world we, as designers, are shaping for the future.
+Storytelling +UX-design
2025
Contact
© Alma Bülow
Futuring
The project began with a futuring exercise in collaboration with design theorist Søren Rosenbak, where we mapped possible scenarios for various futures. These narratives formed the foundation for both the concept and its aesthetic direction.
Worldbuilding
Together, the class imagined a “playful, reactive future” shaped by accumulated discrepancies, where the world has fractured into segregated enclaves and challenges are navigated through acts of playfulness.
I was interested in how this future could affect childrens lifes, so I researched UNICEF’s predictions on children’s lives. They suggest that demographic shifts may affect children’s close relationships, with many growing up without siblings, and that digital technologies could play an important role in helping children maintain friendships with peers their own age. (Unicef 2024)
The brand I developed is called Sibling Dearest. It is an initiative aimed at connecting children in sibling like way, in a segregated, somewhat dystopian future. Many have formed close relationships with AI companions, and their accommodating nature fails to teach children basic emotional skills such as frustration tolerance, negotiation, and social depth. This has reinforced a culture of fast, disposable relationships.
The branding I designed, Is supposed to empethize the values of empathy, connection and warmth.
Brandbook ->
Product & Interface
This product is one of several initiatives designed to connect children. It links them through a randomly assigned sibling network across enclaves and encourages relationships that unfold over the course of childhood. By drawing on the dynamics of sibling relationships, it aims to cultivate emotional skills that are otherwise missing, while also bringing future enclaves closer together.
Sibling relationship principles->
Network of 'siblings' ->
Transition between Lo-fi and hi-fi
The artifact is intentionally restrained. On its own, it offers little stimulation and resists becoming an object of passive engagement. Its more playful expressions only emerge through shared use with one of a child’s assigned “siblings,” allowing play to unfold through connection.
Selected keyframes ->
Sibling Dearest: Connecting children
across enclaves
Sibling Dearest is a speculative design project set in a playful, reactive future. It presents a communication tool for children in 2050.
In a world where children grow up without siblings or close peers, and where AI systems adapt to every need before it is even felt, Sibling Dearest aims to create spaces where friction, empathy, and play can thrive again.
I focused on developing the brand identity, visual language, and interface, translating the speculative experience into a cohesive and tangible one. The project is intended as a critical lens and a conversation starter, questioning how we imagine the future and how our choices today shape where we are heading.
2025 / 3 weeks / Solo project / Design Fiction