Design Fiction
An academic essay for my Master’s in Experience Design at Hyper Island.
Introduction
This essay is an exploration of design fiction, its roots and how it is used in the field of design. Design fiction is still a relatively new design method and it lacks a large body of academic and industry research on its framework and use cases. In the paper, ‘Design Fiction: A Method Toolbox for Design Research in a Complex World’ Grand and Wiedmer say design fiction is a method to conduct design research (Grand, Wiedmer 2010). Design looks at what could be and design fiction is a tool to make and test ideas, envision future scenarios of what could be, and get feedback and start conversations among a wide range of people about the imagined ideas.
What is Design Fiction?
Design fiction arose out of a shared interest in the rapidly transforming, networked world among a mix of designers, academics, artists, and science fiction writers. Julian Bleecker, co-founder of the Near Future Laboratory (a design research and foresight collective) coined the term ‘design fiction’ in 2008 (Sterling, 2013). According to the Near Future Laboratory’s blog post on their approach to design fiction, the method of design fiction looks at “how design can help to materialise and to make tangible scenarios about a near future by using very mundane artefacts that we can craft and design” (Girardin, 2015). The emphasis of The Near Future Laboratory’s articulation of design fiction is on provoking discussion around what might or what could be and not about predicting the future. The purpose of a design fiction deliverable is to stimulate conversation rather than to explain how a product or service should be designed and delivered. It helps a team think about the implications of the thing they want to put out into the world and helps the team consider the wider ecosystem in which the thing will exist.
Where did design fiction come from?
The people at the core of design fiction are Bruce Sterling, the science fiction writer, and Julian Bleecker and Nick Foster, co-founders of The Near Future Laboratory. This paper argues James Bridle, artist, writer, and founder of The New Aesthetic movement has also played a strong role in design fiction by critiquing the present in his work through the use of digital and physical artefacts and storytelling platforms like Instagram, Tumblr, and Twitter.
The roots of design fiction are in science fiction. Bleecker was inspired by Paul Dourish and Genevieve Bell’s paper on the relationship between science fiction, design, and the internet of things, “‘Resistance is Futile’: Reading Science Fiction alongside ubiquitous computing”. In the journal article, Dourish and Bell posit science fiction “actively shapes technological futures through its effect on the collective imagination” (Dourish and Bell, 2013). Some of the technology that has become a part of everyday life was inspired by the forms presented to us in science fiction. For example, Minority Report contextualised gestural user interfaces and Her contextualised voice recognition and AI.
Building on Dourish and Bell’s ideas, Bleecker introduced the idea of design fiction merging design, fact, fiction, and science fiction in order to talk about new ideas in a way that would provide “different, undisciplined ways of envisioning new kinds of environments, artefacts and practices” (Bleecker, 2009). Bleecker expanded the concept of purely looking at over-the horizon technology and expanded the focus to future systems, services, and rituals.
The key elements that form design fiction
Design fiction includes diegesis — a film-like plot, diegetic prototypes — artefacts that exist and are fully functional in the everyday life of an imagined world, shifting assumptions — provoking the viewer to think about the implications of the artefacts and scenarios presented, and a global audience — the output is usually an easily shareable film or an artefact that tells a story i.e. a catalogue, brochure, or how-to guide. All of these elements build up to the purpose of design fiction, which is to stimulate conversation.
Narrative structure is the most important element of design fiction — it uses the concepts of story, narrative, and plot to talk about new products and services of the future that are abstract and hard to imagine or understand. This storytelling framework is called ‘diegesis’ (Kirby, 2009). It is not just the artefact or the story, it is the fluid combination of story, narrative, plot, characters, and artefacts. For example, the music playing on the radio in a scene that relates to the context and culture of the time and place is diegetic, the music that sits on top of the scene to build a feeling of drama is not diegetic (Kirby, 2009).
Design fiction is not just about storytelling; prototyping is a critical piece of the narrative (Sterling, 2013). The process of creating a design fiction involves coming up with new ideas through making and testing, putting the idea into an imagined environment to see how it fits and then iterating. It is about thinking through making. Technological feasibility is not important so prototypes of design fiction artefacts are low fidelity and are quick, inexpensive and easy to make. There is no need for a product render or perfect working prototype to tell the story; only a physical representation of the concept.
Design fiction is a playful way to challenge narrow assumptions. A widely referred to definition is, “Design fiction is the deliberate use of diegetic prototypes to suspend disbelief about change” (Sterling, 2013). Design fiction is about provocation. It challenges assumptions of current day as well as fixed ideas of what the future might be (Sterling, 2013). It is provocative because it is unrestrained. Design fictions are imaginative and speculative — they are about ‘what if’s’, not what is possible with existing technology within our current systems.
Design fictions reach large audiences because of the format and delivery. The format of a film or tangible artefact like a brochure or catalogue is easily shareable, understandable, and memorable (Bleecker, 2009). Films travel and spread and design fictions have the potential to go viral and reach many people all over the world. Stories are meaningful and are a compelling way to reach people. A large audience can make sense of it because storytelling is a human way to share information. We understand stories and have empathy with them.
Design fiction turns things that are intangible and abstract into things that are understandable. The contextualisation of imaginary technology and systems allows the viewer (or reader) to understand how the technology might work and how it might fit seamlessly into their lives. It is about potentials; instead of focusing on how the technology would actually work, the social, political, economic, and cultural contexts embedded in the story inform the viewer of the use cases and opportunities. It explores the ethics and implications in the envisioned scenario. It can show the use or the misuse of the product or service in the future and it shows the implications it may have on larger systems.
A few examples of design fiction
In 2011, Sony Ericsson produced a design fiction film called The Social Web of Things. The four minute short film looks at the future of the connected home. It shows how connected technology will make life easier. The user can communicate with their home, so if the user tells the home it is having someone in for dinner and will be cooking, the home will turn on the oven to pre-heat so it is ready by the time the user is ready to cook. Some parts of the film present dystopian ideas. When the user’s friend cancels dinner, the home suggests the user order Chinese takeout and all of the objects in the user’s home speak to each other and prepare for the user to get home. It gives the viewer the sense the user has no control or decision making and makes this future scenario seem isolating and lonely. The film provokes the viewer to question the ethics around everything being connected. It is morally right or wrong for connected objects to reach into our lives this much and take over so much of our decision making?
The Near Future Laboratory created a short film called Curious Rituals in partnership with the Art Centre College of Design in Pasadena, California. The film looks at the the frictions and misuse of gestural and voice recognition interfaces. One example is when the main character tries to use voice recognition to call her friend Gerardo. The interface cannot find the right contact to call because of the way the character is pronouncing the name. The character has to pronounce the name phonetically in order for the device to understand the command. This design fiction shows how the act of prototyping technologies shows the pain points and contextual issues that arise in everyday life scenarios. How do you design gestural and voice recognition interfaces that do not interfere with cultural and behavioural nuances?
James Bridle critiques technology and society in his work by combining artefacts and stories and displaying them in physical public spaces as well as on social networks. The aim of his work is to make invisible technology and systems visible. He claims the visualisation of abstract concepts allows the public to have meaningful conversations about the complex systems in place (Blum, 2013). In today’s networked society there is more and more invisible technology. One example is his project Drone Shadow. He was inspired by drones — a technology that people have trouble conceptualising. They do not know how big they are or when they fly overhead. Bridle made the invisible visible by tracing life-size chalk outlines of drones in busy cities all over the world. He says we can “no longer see, much less understand, the effects of the networked world we’ve built” (Blum, 2013). Bridle’s work asks the view to question the current systems in place, how they are designed, and how they are communicated to the public.
Conclusion
Design fiction is an emerging method to research and test future facing concepts; however design fiction is not only future facing. An interesting space for design fiction to play is in critiquing the present, rather than purely focusing on the future. Today’s rapid pace of technology means that people have trouble understanding today’s complex systems and technology. Technology is becoming increasingly invisible and intangible, and things that are intangible are difficult to question, discuss, and debate. Design Fiction can give form to things we cannot see and therefore cannot understand. By making them tangible we can speak about them and critique them. Design fiction can be used as an approach to tackle today’s wicked problems. An interesting area to explore further is how design fiction can help designers look at the present; at messy complex systems to help global audiences question the technology, assumptions, and behaviours at play within these systems.
References
Bleecker, J. (2009) ‘Design Fiction A short essay on design, science, fact and fiction.’, Near Future Laboratory, March. Available at: http://blog.nearfuturelaboratory.com/2009/03/17/design-fiction-ashort essay-on-design-science-fact-and-fiction/ (Accessed: 21 February 2016).
Blum, A. (2013) ‘Children of the Drone’, Vanity Fair (June)
Dorothea Axelson (2011) The social web of things. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5AuzQXBsG4 (Accessed: 25 February 2016).
Dourish, P. and Bell, G. (2013) ‘“Resistance is futile”: Reading science fiction alongside ubiquitous computing’, Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 18(4), pp. 769–778. doi: 10.1007/s00779–013–0678–7.
Girardin, F. (2015) ‘Our Approach of Design Fiction’, Near Future Laboratory, 28 July. Available at: http://blog.nearfuturelaboratory.com/category/design-fiction/ (Accessed: 20 February 2016).
Grand, S. (2010) ‘Design Fiction: A Method Toolbox for Design Research in a Complex World’, Montreal: proceedings of the DRS 2010 conference: Design and Complexity.
Kirby, D. (2009) ‘The future is now: Diegetic prototypes and the role of popular films in generating real-world technological development’, Social Studies of Science, 40(1), pp. 41–70. doi:10.1177/0306312709338325.
Near Future Laboratory (2014) Curious rituals: A digital tomorrow. Available at: https://vimeo.com/92328805 (Accessed: 23 February 2016).
Sterling, B. (2011) ‘Design fiction: Diegetic prototypes’, Wired, 5 February. Available at: http://www.wired.com/2011/02/design-fiction-diegetic-prototypes/ (Accessed: 25 February 2016).
Sterling, B. (2013) ‘Patently untrue: Fleshy defibrillators and synchronised baseball are changing the future (wired UK)’, Wired (October).
Images
Figure 1. Axelson, D. (2011). The social web of things. [screen capture] [Accessed 20 Feb. 2016].
Figure 2. Near Future Laboratory. (2014) Curious rituals: A digital tomorrow. [screen capture] [Accessed 20 Feb. 2016].
Figure 3. Bridle, J. (2012). Drone Shadow 002. [image] [Accessed 20 Feb. 2016].
