Design Research Week 2026: Play Break | Thing from a CoDesigned Future (BOS)

Dream boldly about the futures we can build (and repair) together.

Join CoDesign Collaborative during Design Research Week 2026 at Northeastern University for an energizing, hands-on, gamified session. We’ll play “Thing from a CoDesigned Future” and imagine worlds beyond the status quo. In this playful, fast-paced experience, you’ll combine unexpected prompts — future worlds, everyday “things,” areas of impact, and codesign values — to spark fresh ideas about what inclusive, just, and imaginative futures might look like. Play Break will be led by Aidan Borer, Director of Human Insights at Human-ology and Board Chair at CoDesign Collaborative.

Whether you’re a student, designer, professor, community member, or just future-curious, this session will:

• Introduce a lightweight, participatory game you can use with your own peers or community.
• Encourage joyful, radical imagination about how we can redesign systems and everyday experiences.
• Connect with other change makers who care about designing for equity and belonging.

You’ll leave with:

• Provocative future concepts generated collaboratively in the session.
• A playable digital tool you can keep using in your own work.

All are welcome!

About Design Research Week 2026
Design Research Week is a weeklong event that showcases design-led research projects and initiatives. Keynotes, panels, workshops, exhibitions, and more connect Northeastern’s research community with external stakeholders, partners, and guests across the design ecosystem in the Boston area and beyond. For this edition, the program will be organized around an overarching theme: Performing Futures.

Learn more about DRW 2026 events and programs >