The future is a perception problem

The most powerful design tool is how we see

The CEO, NASA, and Me

A few months ago, I did something wildly brave. I wrote a note to the CEO of a rather famous health and wellness company that I have been quietly infatuated with for years due to its attractive brand and mission, right after they experienced layoffs. It was not the ideal and romantic time to say, “Hi, I’ve dreamt of working with you,” but I did it anyway, suggesting various new ideas and explaining how he never has to lay off employees in a fast-growing trillion-dollar global market. I figured this might be a better time to knock while their house is being rearranged. I received no response.

No reply felt like rejection at the time. But maybe that letter wasn’t really for him. It was for me to prove that sometimes, seeing a different future begins with the courage to say it out loud and looking at any design problem differently. What we call a ‘problem’ maybe just a design built on an outdated perception. The future doesn’t need more problem-solvers. It needs more perceptual designers.

Meanwhile, life offered me an interesting twist, and I found myself with an unexpected opportunity to present some thoughts on enhancing human potential in the age of AI at NASA. I was discussing cognitive changes in a room where ‘reaching for the stars’ wasn’t just a metaphor. It was the agenda.

I spoke about how high the mind can go and how we can explore our inner space. Space may expand infinitely, but so does thought, especially when designing from our clarified perceptions, not assumptions. I kept circling back to one idea that perception is the first architecture of any future worth building.

Dignified Futures

To continue this thought and to explore the inner space of mental models and unseen forces that shape how we design trust and care, I’ll be at the Dignified Futures Conference from June 3–4,2025, in Atlanta, talking about perception. It’s not the optical illusion kind, but the kind that subtly and beautifully shifts your entire relationship with the future. Neuroscience too tells us that significant portion of what we perceive is shaped not by the outside world, but by what the brain predicts before the world even arrives. That means perception isn’t just passive it’s generative. It’s not what you see. It’s what you expect to see.

In Japanese aesthetics, there’s a word “Yūgen” that means the subtle and the profound, seen just beneath the surface of things. That’s what I want to bring to this conversation. Not really health tech, but health texture. Not just systems, but soul. It will be a mix of wellness, health, wonder, and what it means to be exquisitely, achingly human with flesh and feelings in a world increasingly run by machines that don’t dream.

For designers, I believe the real frontier of design in an AI-dominated world is emotional regulation. How can we build systems that calm, ground, and awaken people, making them feel their vast potential instead of exhausting them?

This article, written on a lazy Sunday, is a breezy little window into the ideas that have occupied my thoughts lately since writing to that CEO. It’s a provocative love letter to what’s possible if we dare to feel more in the healthcare, finance, marketing, or any industry vertical for that matter, in a world that’s thinking faster diagonally.

At the conference we’ll ask:

What if the brain’s guessing game is the key to innovation?

What if love is the most under-prescribed medication?

What if designing trust is more urgent than designing tech?

What are some of the new design techniques useful for healthcare?

What can we do to see differently and prepare for the future?

I look forward to seeing you at Dignified Futures 2025. It will be a perceptual field trip. Please bring your mind to it but leave your assumptions at the door.

See you there.

Himanshu Bharadwaj is an innovation and NeuroUX design expert based in the US, known for his transformative approach to design, strategy, leadership, and innovation. A digital nerd with the mind of a Himalayan yogi, he created ‘Joyful Design’ https://www.joyful.design, a philosophy that harmonizes business chaos with the serenity of human-centric thinking. Himanshu blends the art of design with the science of human cognition and behavioral patterns, crafting deeply resonant solutions for startups and large enterprises.

His unique process integrates modern science & design principles with ancient wisdom, inspiring teams to transform stress into success, confusion into clarity, and even making Monday mornings something to look forward to. Whether in the boardroom or on the meditation cushion, Himanshu believes life should be joyful, meaningful, and a little bit magical.