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Design fiction

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Thinking Outside The Bag: Worker-Led Speculation And The Future Of Gig Economy Delivery Platforms, Ben Kirman, Oliver Bates, Carolynne Lord, Hayley Alter Jun 2022

Thinking Outside The Bag: Worker-Led Speculation And The Future Of Gig Economy Delivery Platforms, Ben Kirman, Oliver Bates, Carolynne Lord, Hayley Alter

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Gig economy is presented as disruptive, technologically driven, and forward think-ing. Design is explicit in this framing, through use of slick apps to reduce friction and simplify experience for customer and worker. However, this framing is often driven by the platforms, and does not fully recognize the actual experience of work. In this paper we report on a collaborative design process on developing concepts for the future of gig work from a worker-centric perspective. This explicitly does not involve the platforms as stakeholders and uses design fiction as a tool for workers to ex-press fears, joys, and the aspects of …


A Tale Of A Wise City: A Speculation On Entanglements Of Non-Humans And Humans In An Urban Space., Inna Zrajaeva Aug 2021

A Tale Of A Wise City: A Speculation On Entanglements Of Non-Humans And Humans In An Urban Space., Inna Zrajaeva

Nordes Conference Series

This paper proposes methods for imagining a future which includes non-human stakeholders. The particular scenario is built on the concept currently known as Smart City. This exploration proposes a speculative fiction of a future where technologies in a Smart City are serving human and non-human citizens. The final outcome is a fictional documentary that illustrates life in the city from the viewpoint of its human citizens. To develop the concept of the city one of the primary challenges was to coordinate the many different scales, from the entire city structure to the interactions between the individual citizens. To address this, …


The Design Fiction Matrix— A Synthesis Tool For Grounding Fiction Scenarios In Real Facts, Peter Vistisen Aug 2021

The Design Fiction Matrix— A Synthesis Tool For Grounding Fiction Scenarios In Real Facts, Peter Vistisen

Nordes Conference Series

This explorative paper presents a didactic synthesis tool to support designers and design students in adopting design fiction as a method for speculative design. We present the theoretical underpinnings behind the development of the framework and the logic of the tool itself while situating the tool among the current discourse on design fiction. Finally, we present a series of reflections upon the recent year’s application of the tool in a design educational setting, showing the different ways the tool can be applied and represented in practice.


Amphibious Scales And Anticipatory Design, Andrew Morrison, Bastien Kerspern, Palak Dudani, Amanda Steggell Aug 2021

Amphibious Scales And Anticipatory Design, Andrew Morrison, Bastien Kerspern, Palak Dudani, Amanda Steggell

Nordes Conference Series

This paper considers dynamics between Anticipatory Design and relational ontological scales in imagining, articulating and shaping futures. This spans speculative, experimental and experiential engagement with imaginary futures for rethinking relations to the present and long-term sustainable ones. Such acts are situated as design futures literacies that encompass design fiction, extended choreography and arctic futurescaping. Drawing on three design fictive devices developed across two projects, a set of eight ‘Amphibious Scales’ we developed in the context of the Anthropocene. The scales are amphibious in their slipperiness and dynamic, and emergent status. Their genesis is given via accounts of the design fictive …


Discourse, Speculation And Multidisciplinarity: Designing Urban Futures, Ingi Helgason, Michael Smyth, Søren Rosenbak, Ivica Mitrović Jun 2015

Discourse, Speculation And Multidisciplinarity: Designing Urban Futures, Ingi Helgason, Michael Smyth, Søren Rosenbak, Ivica Mitrović

Nordes Conference Series

This paper presents a design case study of a summer school that brought together a multidisciplinary group of early-career professionals to explore ideas relating to new technologies in an urban context. The organisers of the summer school took an explicitly designinformed approach to the event, specifically a ‘critical design’ approach. The aspiration of the organisers was that the school activities would lead to the creation of an exhibition of artefacts and visual media expressing the ideas explored during the school. The expectation of generating exhibition quality outputs influenced the participants’ experience of the event, and this paper describes the process …