Designing Futures

MASTER THESIS

reFuture

November 2024 – 08. July 2025
Focus: Interface Design

In times of multiple ongoing crises such as climate change, social polarisation and anxiety about the future, emotional resilience is becoming an essential prerequisite for a society capable of acting. My master’s thesis explores how individual and especially collective future resilience can be strengthened through emotionally charged design and shared meaning-making.

The project began with the participatory workshop “Re:Future,” in which participants developed their personal visions of the future. The unexpectedly optimistic results inspired the idea of a collective time capsule: an object that preserves hopeful memories and messages from the present and can only be opened collectively in times of emotional disorientation or crisis.

This work combines methods from futures design with psychological concepts such as future resilience and the intentional use of ritual in the design process. At its core is the development of a long-term remembering ritual: a recurring time capsule event that may take place approximately every ten years, depending on how intensely societal crises are perceived. The goal is to bring people together in order to reactivate courage, connection and orientation. In this way, design becomes a medium for collective self- efficacy and hope.

Thesis of: Monique Holthuizen
Supervisors: Prof. Philipp Heidkamp (Interface Design), Alicia Shao (Future Design)

TH Köln, Köln International School of Design (KISD)

MASTER THESIS PROPOSAL

reFuture: Workshop

08. February 2025
Cooperation: Neongreen Market @ Schrotty

The Re:Future workshop translates the theoretical concepts of my Master Proposal into a participatory format and examines their effectiveness through the experiences of its participants. The goal was to make individual and collective futures resilience tangible and to analyze which visions of the future emerge under the conditions of ongoing crises. By combining speculative and immersive methods, the workshop invites participants not just to think about the future but to actively experience it.

Project Instigator, Manager: Monique Holthuizen
Project Manager: Viola Stein
Visual Designer: Lena Renz

Gathering

Rebuild

01. – 03. March 2026
NGO: Rebuild – European Social Platforms Gathering, Copenhagen (DK)

->

Rebuild is a 48-hour gathering bringing together builders, investors, entrepreneurs and researchers to rethink the future of social platforms in Europe.

As part of the Social Design Framework track, I collaborated in an interdisciplinary working group to explore how social platforms could be designed to foster healthier digital ecosystems and more responsible online communities. Rather than focusing on individual features, the discussions approached platforms as living socio-technical systems. The framework examines structural elements such as identity, reputation, relationships, governance and user agency, and how these shape trust, power dynamics and participation within digital communities.

The resulting framework aims to support platform builders in designing systems that balance platform growth, user experience and societal responsibility, while anticipating unintended consequences and long-term social impact.

Working Group “Social Design Framework Track”:

Monique Holthuizen
Martin Sønderlev Christensen
Alexander Baumgardt
Sonia El Moumi Nielsen
Marcus Robilotta