Patrick Pittman

In collaboration with the Near Future Laboratory, the definitive text on the origins, evolution, and current practice of design fiction: the making of fictional artifacts in order to explore questions about the future, technology, culture, and change. A foundational, practice-changing book that sold out its first print run almost immediately. Full of insights from the fields of design, business, foresight, and technology, with important lessons about understanding the nature of technological transformation.

Fractional executive level communications leadership for a group of the world's leading preclinical Parkinson's experts. From web content to organizational strategy and internal and investor communications, Chris and I help the team at Atuka frame the narratives and strategic trajectories that get then closer towards the goal of a cure for Parkinson's.

Intensive research and foresight project in partnership with the Near Future Laboratory, intended to help the product, R&D, and engineering teams at Motional, Hyundai’s autonomous vehicle division, plan for and think critically about a future where AV transportation is ubiqutous. The output was a 72-page automotive club member’s magazine from 2035. All aspects from articles, to visuals, to ads, were created from scratch by the core team, working hand-in-hand with the client team to better build and explore this future world. And yes, we actually printed the thing. Wild, transformational, and unlike any other foresight project you've ever seen.

Internal editorial project for X, the moonshot factory (Alphabet’s R&D lab), commissioned to help its teams engaged in building transformative new technologies think more critically about the human implications of their work as they peek over the horizon. Shaping Things circulated on X’s internal network as a series of confidential research papers, interviews, podcasts, and live interview events.

Commissioned by my good friends and collaborators at Studio D Radiodurans, we provided editing services to shape a narrative from 80,000 words of expert field research from a team in Myanmar who had undertaken a foundational study of how sesame is grown and traded, how debt works, and the livelihoods of all of those in the production and distribution chain. We ensured the research was told with a coherent voice and a rigorous and consistent approach to both data and narrative, while ensuring the right technical details were foregrounded.

We helped the scientists and marketing team at this Quebec health tech startup authentically translate their own research and data on sleep optimization into a compelling business-facing narrative explaining the ROI of a well-slept workforce.

For a new collaboration between the Centre for Digital Rights and McMaster University, Chris and I worked to translate some critical and research-informed work on how decision-making works in Canada into a clear and straightforward web resource, leading to national newspaper coverage.

ADGA, one of Canada’s leading private technology contractors in defence, cybersecurity, and space applications required a new brand and content strategy, and a compelling expression of their business in public channels. When your reputation is built on discretion, it can be challenging to explain exactly what you do, even to your own employees. Through extensive cross-organization research and strategy, we helped ADGA better articulate the important work they do in situations where lives are often on the line, both as a public-facing brand and across internal silos.

One of Quebec’s leading health care companies, specialising in diagnostics, required a fresh and trustworthy approach to brand content. Working closely with Biron’s medical specialists, we translated their expertise and verified peer review studies into easy to understand and enjoyable health content for a new website. Knowing that their customers were otherwise presented with a lot of pseudoscience and clickbait with any Google symptom search, we focussed on making reliable information accessible through a variety of packaging, from mythbusting Q&As to “Neat Little Guides” on common issues such as sleep health and nutrition. We also undertook an end-to-end analysis of the business to improve content such as privacy policies and investment memoranda.