Design Futures is herewith proposed and discussed as a conceptualization of existing methodological streams in corporate design history, in the analysis of Italian Design Districts, and in other creative industry fields, inspiring a fundamental tension to anticipate what will come next, which artists, architects and designers naturally embody.Purpose of this paper is to identify some examples of anticipatory movements, to then contextualize them in their historical background, thereby scoping the domain of Design Futures at least at the level of a first draft, in progress. In the rich history of art, architecture, and design, the selection herewith presented is purely exemplificatory and not intended yet as a systematic, complete, critical review on universal terms.