In a digital, and cashless economy, transactional data has become ubiquitous, telling and highly valuable. Yet, this data is rarely considered critically as a material for design. In two practice-led, Research through Design projects we explored practically how we might design with transactional data.

The first, ‘FTML: Financial Transaction Mark-up Language’ is a speculative design project and short film, which explores how value-laden ‘mark up’ of specific transactional data could underpin new services and digital applications. This was developed initially in response to a ‘Future of Money Design Competition’ (Supra Studio) and selected for a final exhibtion: https://www.suprasystems.studio/futureofmoney.

This project also featured as a case study and exemplar in the Design Research Works film “Permission to Muck About”: https://designresearch.works/permission-to-muck-about/

The second, ‘Money / Data Laundering’ adopted an approach of ‘designerly hacking’, with Point of Sale (PoS) payment card readers, to develop a web application to digitally ‘wash’ or launder specific values into an indivdual’s bank account via a symbolic transaction. Drawing on prior research on Programmable Donations, this provocation was presented live at DRS 2022, and the Future of Money exhibition.

Both interventions demonstrate the need, and opportunities, for designers to engage critically with transactional data and financial infrastructures, to enable new forms of value(s) exchange.