Design Futures · Speculative UX · Systems Thinking
Designing Safety Systems for Human–Wildlife Coexistence
Exploring Human Needs, Systems, And Ethical Design Through Research-Led Thinking
OVERVIEW
This case study explores how UX design can support safety, coordination, and ethical decision-making in situations where humans and wildlife are forced to coexist in high-risk environments.Using a design futures and speculative UX approach, the project examines systems rather than isolated interfaces, focusing on how infrastructure, governance, and information design influence behaviour, trust, and responsibility during moments of crisis.The intention is not to predict a future, but to use an extreme scenario to surface design challenges that already exist in public safety, disaster response, and environmental systems today.
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THE DESIGN QUESTION
How might UX design support safety, coordination, and ethical responsibility in environments where control is limited and risk is unavoidable?
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CONTEXT & SCENARIO
This project uses a fictional but plausible scenario inspired by high-risk wildlife environments to explore systemic design challenges rather than entertainment narratives.
The scenario functions as a lens, not a solution space — allowing complex issues such as power, responsibility, communication breakdowns, and delayed decision-making to surface clearly.
By placing humans inside an environment where traditional control systems fail, the project reframes UX as a tool for coordination and trust, not optimisation.
While fictional, the scenario draws inspiration from well-known extreme environments (such as Jurassic Park) purely as a speculative device — not as a narrative reference — to amplify real-world tensions already present in public safety and environmental systems.
Guided by Four principles ( LENS )
Designing for systems, not single users
Prioritising clarity over speed in critical moments
Treating ethics as a design constraint, not an afterthought
Designing for uncertainty, not ideal conditions,
The system considers multiple stakeholders operating under different constraints.
STAKEHOLDERS
On-site personnel
managing immediate safety risks
Remote operators
monitoring and coordinating responses
Public authorities
responsible for governance and accountability
The environment itself
treated as an active participant rather than a passive backdrop
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Social & Cultural Dynamics
Early research focused on understanding how people behave when systems fail and authority becomes fragmented.These dynamics informed how safety, governance, and accountability were treated throughout the design.
Several patterns emerged
Trust in authority shifts under perceived existential threat
Communication becomes fragmented under asymmetric power
Responsibility is often deferred to systems rather than individuals
Compliance is shaped by cultural narratives, not rules alone
4
System Overview ( Distributed Safety Architecture )
Instead of proposing a single interface, the project explores a distributed safety system composed of interconnected components.
The following concepts are presented as speculative system components, illustrating how safety, coordination, and responsibility can be distributed across technology, people, and environment rather than centralised in a single interface.
Concept visuals represent exploratory artefacts rather than final product designs.
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CONCEPT EXPLORATION
Early exploration focused on testing relationships between technology, people, and environment rather than refining interface detail.
Early explorations
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ETHICAL TENSIONS & TRADE-OFFS
Designing safety systems in high-risk environments introduces ethical tensions that cannot be resolved through interface design alone. This project intentionally avoids presenting clean solutions, instead surfacing the trade-offs that emerge when control is limited and consequences are unevenly distributed.
Supporting academic artefact
Several patterns emerged
Automation vs Human Judgement
Automated monitoring and alerts can improve response time, but risk overriding human judgement in complex, ambiguous situations. Over-reliance on automation may reduce situational awareness rather than enhance it, particularly when conditions deviate from expected patterns.
Responsibility When Systems Fail
In distributed systems, accountability becomes fragmented. When a decision is informed by multiple technologies, operators, and authorities, it is often unclear where responsibility lies when outcomes are harmful. This ambiguity challenges traditional models of blame, governance, and liability.
Surveillance, Trust, and Consent
Monitoring environments and populations can improve safety, but it also introduces concerns around surveillance and consent. Systems designed for protection can easily be repurposed for control, raising questions about who is being observed, by whom, and under what authority.
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REFLECTION
This project shifted my understanding of UX from designing interfaces to designing conditions for decision-making. Working within a speculative, high-risk scenario revealed how often traditional UX frameworks assume stability, predictability, and individual agency — conditions that rarely exist in real crisis environments.
Designing for systems rather than single users required letting go of optimisation and instead focusing on coordination, responsibility, and failure modes. Rather than asking how an interface could be made faster or simpler, the project asked when clarity should override speed, and how uncertainty can be designed for rather than eliminated.
Most importantly, this work reinforced that UX design carries ethical weight beyond usability. The choices designers make about visibility, control, and automation actively shape how power and responsibility are distributed within systems.
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CLOSING NOTE
This project reinforced the importance of grounding design decisions in real user behaviour rather than assumption. Working within a physical, public environment highlighted the impact of accessibility, clarity, and context on user experience.
The project strengthened my ability to translate research insights into practical design outcomes while balancing user needs with institutional constraints.
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UX & Visual Designer
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