Designing a newspaper from the future places the visualisation of a scenario – such as a moodboard – in a known context. Using common media formats, such as newspapers, postcards, (maga)zines, blogs and advertising can frame the exercise in a familiar language of headlines and 'breaking news', which helps to distill the crucial aspects of a scenario. The result of this exercise is a visual representation of the scenario, aiming to make the stories more concrete and tangible.
NOTE: the process below describes how to design a newspaper, but the same process can be applied for other media formats as well - magazines, postcards, invitations, posters, adds, blogs, news-flashes, etc. All of these media use a similar format which grabs the readers' attention with a mixture of images, headlines, pull-quotes and infographics.
For this technique you will need to set up some large working surfaces and have a diversity of printed images, as well as sufficient drawing, gluing and cutting materials available. You might need to have a camera, computer and printer for any last-minute image additions. It is best to design newspapers in smaller working groups of no more than 5 people. If your group is larger, you should have several breakout groups. You can use the same pool of images for all groups, but each group should have their own crafting materials.
Step 0: Before the exercise, invite the participants to bring images they associate with the topic of the workshop (or if the scenarios have been made beforehand, then images can be directly related to the scenarios. Or if you prefer a less direct approach, ask participants to bring 5–10 images with a wide diversity of content.