In the past few decades, individuals have experienced dramatic changes in some of the most established dimensions of human life: time, space, matter, and individuality. Minds today must be able to synthesise such transformations, whether they are working across several time zones, travelling between satellite maps and nanoscale images, drowning in information, or acting fast in order to preserve some slow downtime.

The Design and the Elastic Mind book focuses on designers' ability to grasp momentous advances in technology, science and social mores and convert them into useful objects and systems. The projects included in the book range from nanodevices to vehicles, appliances to interfaces and building facades, pragmatic solutions for everyday use to provocative ideas meant to influence our future choices.