Overview

Illustrated Future Signals takes design futures one step further—transforming data into illustrated provocations. Through humor and visual storytelling, the project captures subtle shifts in the urban and cultural landscape, reframing them as accessible and playful images. Each illustration becomes both mirror and warning: exposing the absurdities and possibilities embedded in everyday change.

Context

Signals often live in the margins—buried in data, reports, or niche conversations. This project reimagines them as bold, shareable graphics, where humor itself becomes a methodology for foresight. Drawing on the aesthetics of popular culture and street iconography, Illustrated Future Signals bridges research and public imagination, making complex trends visible, relatable, and discussable.

Five Signals

• La Banda es Vida – Music as a collective heartbeat, reclaiming space against cultural homogenization.

• Más Sazón, Menos Estetización – A call for authenticity over staged aesthetics in food culture.

• El Cablebús No es Lift – Mobility infrastructures reframed, challenging imported narratives of progress.

• Los Rótulos son Arte – Defending vernacular design as cultural heritage under threat.

• Las Salsas Chidas son las que Pican – Everyday resistance through flavor and embodied taste.

Outcome

Presented as stickers and postcards, Illustrated Future Signals circulates through both streets and exhibitions. It transforms foresight into a cultural artifact—an illustrated archive of futures already present, inviting audiences to laugh, reflect, and imagine together.