1. art and entertainment
2. visual art and design
3. design

Design
Fiction
Sparking the collective imagination of the future
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Status...
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Merge the insight
cluster 1
cluster 2
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John Heskett
From “Design: A Very Short Introduction”
“Design is to design a design to
produce a design.”
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John Heskett
From “Design: A Very Short Introduction”
noun (2)
verb
“Design is to design a design to
produce a design.”
noun (1)
noun (3)
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John Heskett
From “Design: A Very Short Introduction”
noun (2)
verb
“Design is to design a design to
produce a design.”
noun (1)
noun (3)
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Buuuuuuuuuuuuut…
Design in praxis always have one important alteration
“Design is to design a design to
produce a design.”
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Buuuuuuuuuuuuut…
Design in praxis always have one important alteration
“Design is to design designs to
produce a design.”
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The process
Data
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Concept
The process
Data
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Concept
The process
Data
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Concept
Iterative, explorative, but terminal
CC
CG
FR
Pro t o t y p ing
im p le me n t !
Concept Selected
Further addition
(FA)
CG
S k e tch ing
FA
Further reduction
(FR)
Re s e a rch
New ones added
Initial number reduced
Initial number of concepts based on PDS
Concept Generation
PDS
Front-end Design Work
...we cycle in a funnel between concept convergence and concept generation
CC = Controlled
Convergence
CG = Concept
Generation
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CC
CC
CG
CC
Steve Pugh 1990
Design as translation
Design seeks to generate meaning from chaos
“A designer begins to act as a translator. Both
visualizing ideas as they are developed and refined
and also translating vague descriptions, gestures, or
references to new ideas, into more actionable
concrete representations that can be explored
further (...) “
Jon Kolko (2011)
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Design as translation
Design seeks to generate meaning from chaos
“ (...) The medium that a designer manipulates
is human behavior and experience, and
the material is the digital fabric: bits, bytes,
pixel and processors.
Jon Kolko (2011)
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It’s a tough balance...
From Buxton’s “Sketching User Experiences” (2007)
“Design is compromise.”
bet ween
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forms
functions
styles
problems
solutions
stakeholders
knowledge domains
The challenge qua Buxton
The hard part of working with reflective design problems
Getting the right design...
...and getting the design right
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The challenge qua Buxton
The hard part of working with reflective design problems
do we solve the right problem?
Getting the right design...
...and getting the design right
do we solve the problem appropriately?
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why is this
important
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Design is about products!
Everything designed by humans can essentially be called a ‘product’
“By ‘product’ I mean a range of phenomena that is very broad,
including information, artifacts, activities, services, and
policies, as well as systems and environments”
“We are focusing on how human beings relate to other human
beings through the mediating influence of products.”
Richard Buchanan 2011 ‘Design Research & The New Learning’
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Design is about products!
Everything designed by humans can essentially be called a ‘product’
“We regard the form of a products as a synthesis of what is useful,
usable, and desirable - that is, the content and structure of
performance, human affordances, and product voice.”
UTILITY
UTILITY
‘product’
USABILITY
‘product’
DESIREABILITY
USABILITY
DESIREABILITY
Richard Buchanan 2011 ‘Design Research & The New Learning’
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okay why are
products
different
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Local hill climping
The first idea gives us a space to explore...
I got an idea!
Greenberg et al 2011
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Local hill climping
After some time and work we reach ‘the local maxima’
...we iteratively climb the hill
?
a
e
d
i
d
o
o
g
But is it a
Greenberg et al 2011
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The problem is quite clear
The local maxima is not always equal to the global (optimal) maxima
Greenberg et al 2011
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...history has a lot of examples
So get ‘the right design’ before working to get ‘the design right’
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The inertia of innovation
We need tools that allow us to avoid the pit fall of local hills
“In terms of stifling innovation, good ideas are more
dangerous than bad ones. They take hold, assume
momentum, and therefore result in intertia”
Buxton 2007
...intertia must be avoided
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...and Buxton won’t shut up!
Billy Boy makes a clear summary of why exploration matter
“Without informed design - technology
is more likely to do bad than good”
Buxton 2007
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ERGO...
We need a
new model
...of how to explore ideas and problems outside the local hill
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multiple stories?
Greenberg et al 2011
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...once upon a possible world
A theoretical framework som poetics may be our beginning
In order to embrace fiction as a central practice in design as well as in art
and literature an alternative theory of fiction has been developed more
recently within poetics. The so-called possible world theory (or possible
world semantics) is based on the assumption that fictions can be properly
understood as ‘possible worlds’, which can be either easy or difficult to
access from our real world.
Accessibility can be characterized, for instance, in terms of basic
ontological laws that enable and constrain entities’ behaviour in a possible
world as compared to the real world.
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...once upon a possible world
A theoretical framework som poetics may be our beginning
Possible world 1
Possible world 2
You and I
Here and now
Possible world 3
Science fictional world
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’
s
d
l
r
o
w
‘
e
r
u
Possible fut
The Future is kinda messy - but it’s also ‘hand made’
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Design + fiction
“A kind of halfway between fact and fiction (...) telling
stories that appear real and legible (...) Offering some
sort of reflection on how things are, and how they
might become something else.”
–
JULIAN BLEEKER - near future laboratory
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a formal definition exist
"Design fiction is the deliberate use of diegetic
prototypes to suspend disbelief about change."
Bruce Sterling, 2012
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One at a time
The deliberate use of diegetic prototypes?
"Deliberate use" means that design fiction is something that people do
with a purpose.
"Diegetic" is from film and theatre studies. A movie has a story, but it
also has all the commentary, scene-setting, props, sets and gizmos to
support that story. Design fiction doesn't tell stories -- instead, it
designs prototypes that imply a changed world.
"Suspending disbelief" means that design fiction has an ethics. Design
fictions are fakes of a theatrical sort, but they're not wicked frauds or
hoaxes intended to rob or fool people. A design fiction is a creative act
that puts the viewer into a different conceptual space -- for a while. Then
it lets him go. Design fiction has an audience, not victims.
Bruce Sterling, 2012
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Let me try giving it a go
Design fiction uses techniques of fiction and drama to
test the future, to see what future technologies or
systems might work, on how they might be received and
what their impact might be.
It presents a series of alternative possible futures and
shows which path might be preferable (or the opposite)
...that’s what this week is about
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it’s all in the ‘what if ?’
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What
if
X
condition(s)
were
true?
What if?
“A proposable good solution to a design
problem, within a certain context ”
Professor Jon Kolko, 2009
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...a lot of design fiction comes
from real past science fiction
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75 years of imagining a concept
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Minority Report
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...and head on to 2012
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Remember the diegesis
“Filmic depictions of future technologies are actually ‘diegetic
prototypes’ that demonstrate to a larger audience a technology’s
need, benevolence, and viability. Diegetic prototypes have a
major rhetorical advantage over true prototypes: in the diegesis
these technologies exist a ‘real’ objects already implemented,
which people actually use.”
David A. Kirby “The Future is Now”
...stories matter a lot in terms of domesticating an idea
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Props & Prototypes
Think of design as prop-making for the near future.
Design makes objects (non-humans) around which
stories/conversations ensure, and imaginary worlds
come into being.
...the same goes for the ‘immateriality of services’
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A good example
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...and it can be very rough
Which lead’s us to why design fiction is also sketching
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Advertise the future
design fiction as diegetic informercials
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75 years of imagining a concept
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it’s all in the ‘what if ?’
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...t wo tools for today
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First let’s build a
concept scenario
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FACT
Histories
Signals
Lessons
Necessities
(example)
(data)
PAST
FUTURE
Myths
Scenarios
Dragons
Possibilities
(misconceptions)
(design fiction)
FICTION
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Vistisen, 2013
FACT
Histories
Signals
Lessons
Necessities
(example)
(data)
PAST
FUTURE
Myths
Scenarios
Dragons
Possibilities
(misconceptions)
(design fiction)
FICTION
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Vistisen, 2013
FACT
n g ag e
e
o
t
rd
a
h
re
a
rs
e
g
a
n
Te e
h e zo o
t
o
t
it
is
v
ir
e
h
t
g
in
r
u
d
n de n t
Th e zo o is h ighly de p e
as on
e
s
d
n
a
r
e
h
t
a
e
w
e
h
t
on
Histories
Signals
Lessons
Necessities
(example)
(data)
f u ll t o
It h a s b e e n u n s uc c s e s
gh
re ach t h e g ue s t t h ro u
mo bile a pp s
PAST
FUTURE
Myths
Scenarios
Dragons
Possibilities
(misconceptions)
(design fiction)
FICTION
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Vistisen, 2013
FACT
n g ag e
e
o
t
rd
a
h
re
a
rs
e
g
a
n
Te e
h e zo o
t
o
t
it
is
v
ir
e
h
t
g
in
r
u
d
m ite d
li
is
o
o
z
e
h
t
r
o
f
g
in
d
Fu n
in t h e ne x t five ye a rs
n de n t
Th e zo o is h ighly de p e
as on
e
s
d
n
a
r
e
h
t
a
e
w
e
h
t
on
No e c o n om ic a l ro om f
s t af f h ire s
Histories
o r ne w
Signals
Lessons
Necessities
ue s t w il l
In 2020 90% o f a ll g
ga
us e dig it a l me dia du r in
v is it
f u ll t o
It h a s b e e n u n s uc c s e s
gh
re ach t h e g ue s t t h ro u
mo bile a pp s
(example)
(data)
PAST
FUTURE
Myths
Scenarios
Dragons
Possibilities
(misconceptions)
(design fiction)
FICTION
tirsdag den 15. september 15
Vistisen, 2013
FACT
n g ag e
e
o
t
rd
a
h
re
a
rs
e
g
a
n
Te e
h e zo o
t
o
t
it
is
v
ir
e
h
t
g
in
r
u
d
m ite d
li
is
o
o
z
e
h
t
r
o
f
g
in
d
Fu n
in t h e ne x t five ye a rs
n de n t
Th e zo o is h ighly de p e
as on
e
s
d
n
a
r
e
h
t
a
e
w
e
h
t
on
No e c o n om ic a l ro om f
s t af f h ire s
Histories
o r ne w
Signals
Lessons
Necessities
ue s t w il l
In 2020 90% o f a ll g
ga
us e dig it a l me dia du r in
v is it
f u ll t o
It h a s b e e n u n s uc c s e s
gh
re ach t h e g ue s t t h ro u
mo bile a pp s
(example)
(data)
PAST
FUTURE
t o v is it
Te e n age rs do n’t wa n t
m il ie s
t h e zo o w it h t h e ir f a
Myths
Scenarios
Dragons
Possibilities
(misconceptions)
(design fiction)
t urbs
is
d
y
g
lo
o
n
h
c
te
l
a
it
ig
D
ce of
t h e ph ys ic a l e x p e r ie n
t h e zo o
e n a ble
l
il
w
f
f
a
t
s
re
o
m
ly
n
O
ie n c e s
mo re in v o lv ing e x p e r
f o r t h e v is it o rs
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FICTION
Vistisen, 2013
FACT
n g ag e
e
o
t
rd
a
h
re
a
rs
e
g
a
n
Te e
h e zo o
t
o
t
it
is
v
ir
e
h
t
g
in
r
u
d
m ite d
li
is
o
o
z
e
h
t
r
o
f
g
in
d
Fu n
in t h e ne x t five ye a rs
n de n t
Th e zo o is h ighly de p e
as on
e
s
d
n
a
r
e
h
t
a
e
w
e
h
t
on
No e c o n om ic a l ro om f
s t af f h ire s
Histories
o r ne w
Signals
Lessons
Necessities
ue s t w il l
In 2020 90% o f a ll g
ga
us e dig it a l me dia du r in
v is it
f u ll t o
It h a s b e e n u n s uc c s e s
gh
re ach t h e g ue s t t h ro u
mo bile a pp s
(example)
(data)
PAST
FUTURE
t o v is it
Te e n age rs do n’t wa n t
m il ie s
t h e zo o w it h t h e ir f a
c ame
e
b
rs
e
g
a
n
e
te
if
t
a
h
W
o?
re s p o n s ible f o r t h e zo
Myths
Scenarios
Dragons
lle nge
Possibilities
Wh at if we c o u ld ch a
fle x ible
t urbs
is
d
y
g
lo
o
n
h
c
te
l
a
it
ig
D
ce of
t h e ph ys ic a l e x p e r ie n
t h e zo o
t h e f am il ie s in
g
ad ve n t u re - c om bin in
ph ys ic a l a n d dig it a l?
(misconceptions)
e n a ble
l
il
w
f
f
a
t
s
re
o
m
ly
n
O
ie n c e s
mo re in v o lv ing e x p e r
f o r t h e v is it o rs
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(design fiction)
FICTION
ye r wa s
la
l
a
it
ig
d
e
h
t
if
t
a
h
W
o us?
mo re o r le s s au t o n om
Vistisen, 2013
next up is you first
sketch of this
workshop
(which is not a video sketch)
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Storyboards
Depict your design space as a pieces of a visual story
“Scenarios keep the designer of computer systems
and applications in the swamp, but by their very
nature also provide scaffolding to get a view of
the design situation from at bit higher up.”
Carroll, 1999
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Storyboards
Depict your design space as a pieces of a visual story
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Storyboards
Using different sketching patterns we may also add a little depth
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Storyboards
...or mix it up through multiple modalities
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Assignment
1) Map out your problem space in the the design fiction matrix
2) Begin to discuss ‘what if scenarios’ that could exist and how this
possible world might look like from the user view point. State your
ideas by actually asking ‘What if X’?
3) Sketch out a detailed storyboard putting placing this possible
world into a narrative piece of design fiction
4) Try to make at least 3-5 different scenarios with different ideas
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Remember the web-page!
1) You must write up your groups reflections in order to reach 80%
participation
2) Aim for at least 250 words about each method (including reflections
from you meeting with the clients)
3) Use the framework presented by Ramesh
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Remember tomorrow!
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suitedupsince1997
...any questions?
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One more thing...
...not a watch (promise!)
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Animatics
Taking a simple storyboard and making it into a video
...animatics
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(low-fi)
Animatics
Taking a simple storyboard and making it into a video
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