thinking about things: Suspending my disbelief – Designing the future:
One of things that hit me – which may seem very obvious – is how important story telling is to design. I’ve been reading and writing a lot about Science Fiction recently, and Fiona’s talk made me realise that designers engaging in ‘future products’ or ‘future scenarios’ need to paint a picture of the future, they need to use any means possible in order to make the audience ‘believe’ – the type of narrative varies massively between the different types of design explored, how far into the future the scenario explores and who exists and engages in the imagined future. …
Design always engages in prediction, whether it’s how things are used or read, what social effects resonate from the design, or even down to the commercial success of the design. One of things I think design does very well within a research context is the construction of carefully crafted visions of the future – these visions open up potentials for the here and now.
Technorati tags: future, narratives
