Visualization of future technologies in youth magazines of the USSR and their engineering implementation

The subject of the study is Soviet popular science magazines (Tekhnika-Molodezhi and Yuny Tekhnik) from the periods 1935–1945 and 1960–1970, analyzing the role of technology visualization in shaping public consciousness and engineering solutions. The main objective is to identify the ways in which visual representations shaped future perceptions of technical prospects and were implemented in real practice. Key visual motifs, including orbital stations, anthropomorphic robots, and alternative energy systems, were analyzed as semiotic constructions linking speculative imagination with technical pragmatism. The study demonstrates the active role of visual media in constructing the technological future, showing that cultural narratives not only reflected but also accelerated material progress. The interdisciplinary approach contributes to the understanding of the dynamics between art and engineering in Soviet techno-utopianism. The study includes a qualitative content analysis and a quantitative assessment of the impact of futuristic images on real innovation processes. The research methodology involves systematization and classification of illustrations by levels of implementation: from full embodiment to the absence of practical implementation. Particular attention is paid to the transformation of the original futuristic constructs into current technologies, demonstrating the complexity of the process of adapting a dream to reality. Scientific novelty lies in the integrated approach to studying the impact of visual forecasts on engineering solutions and innovation activity, which has not been sufficiently studied before. For the first time, a quantitative analysis of the levels of implementation of forecasts was carried out, a classification by the degree of compliance with the original was proposed. The results show that about 66% of the predicted visualizations were implemented, although often on an adapted or limited scale. The largest number of successful developments are associated with government projects, such as nuclear icebreakers and space programs, emphasizing the importance of government support and a targeted research policy. Thus, this study enriches our understanding of the mechanism of interaction between art, scientific thinking and engineering, offering a new perspective on the dynamics of artistic creativity and technological progress in the Soviet culture of techno-utopianism.