Speculative and Critical Design
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This Carnegie Mellon University course is led by PhD candidate Deepa Butoliya. By developing the class’s critical sensibility to design and introducing a pluriversal approach, Deepa believes she can assist her students in utilizing methods of Speculative Design, Critical Design, and Design Futures to create alternative futures for the marginalized.
Works Referenced in Class + Reading Response | 9.7
Bleecker, Julian. “Design Fiction: A short essay on design, science, fact and fiction.” Los Angeles: Near Future Laboratory, 2009. pp. 1–86.
“Introduction to Speculative Design Practice — Eutropia, a Case Study.” Interakcije, Interakcije, dvk.com.hr/interakcije/2015/05/12/introduction-to-speculative-design-practice-eutropia-a-case-study/. Accessed 29 Aug. 2017.
Malpass, Matt. “Between Wit and Reason: Defining Associative, Speculative, and Critical Design in Practice.” Design and Culture, vol. 5, no. 3, Jan. 2013, pp. 333–356., doi:10.2752/175470813x13705953612200.
Sterling, Bruce. “Design Fiction.” Interactions, May 2009, pp. 20–24.
Class + Reading Response | 9.7
According to author Julian Bleecker, design has traditionally been based on a set of principles that are optimistic, hopeful, naive, and uncritical, relying on continuity. On the opposite end, design fiction focuses on the possibilities of the future and relies on innovation.
I have seen a number of engineering and product design firms advertise their contributions to innovation and use that as a leverage point to gain new employees and clients or customers. But technological progress always comes with consequences.
After having interned with eight companies, I have found that most professionals I’ve encountered in the design field do consider social and cultural implications during the creative process. However, Bleecker points out that designers do not often question cultural views, nor do they regularly examine and discuss the “properties, consequences, and ideological stakes of emerging ideas.” I feel that this is likely due to the design’s intention, a company’s priorities, and Western paradigm.
Tony Fry, theorist and philosopher, speaks on ontological design and describes how human life is shaped by the “artificial” (i.e., thoughts, assumptions, and worldview). He believes what we make will open up possible future trajectories.
These trajectories should be explored, because what we think, act on, and create impacts us in the short-term, other societies in the medium-term, and future generations in the long-term.
Author Matt Malpass describes two practices that respond to this need: 1) Speculative design questions the role of new science and technology, often with a dystopian perspective; and 2) Critical design focuses on the present social, cultural, and ethical implications of design objects, prompting individuals to experience a dilemma. Designer James Auger states that speculative and critical design objects promote constructive discussion “between experts (scientists, engineers and designers) and users of new technologies (the audience).”
Our class’ guest lecturer, Ahmed Ansari, has a background in and writes on decolonization, cultural theory, and design. He commented on the aforementioned practices and assisted us in realizing their weaknesses. Ansari insists that the claim of a universal scope in speculative and critical design is unfounded.
He then shared industrial designer Victor Papnik’s views: 1) Design encourages consumption by creating new needs; and 2) The design discourse only exists in terms of Western culture, because there is a belief that people from other cultures do not design; they craft. Conspicuous consumption is a wicked problem, and worldview blinds individuals from perceiving/conceiving the bigger picture.
Ansari suggests that our worldview is narrow. For instance, he states that the future scenarios illustrated in speculative designs although considered dystopian are not, because many people around the globe experience an existence parallel to those depictions. We, people living in a developed country, “forget” this knowledge when designing.
So how do we respond? By bringing politics back into the design discourse. People need to debate global cultural differences, race, gender, and class in relation to design. Design must seek to expand its horizon in Western culture. To begin this shift, we can create scenarios and prototypes; we can observe individuals and their interactions with the surround ecosystem; we can engage in critical, speculative, and experience design. Ultimately, we must facilitate discussion.
Ansari encouraged our class to examine our current Western paradigm and speculate how it might shift in the next 100 years. Our team believes people will begin to adopt more earth-centered values in hopes (and due to the need) of developing a more sustainable society.
- Nature influences artifice.
- Global Artifice includes self-sustaining technology, which is available to the majority of people.
- Self-sustaining technology is powered via biowaste and geographic-specific resources (e.g., those living in desert environments utilize the sun’s energy).
- Cultural (societal- or sacred-based) Artifice encompasses all human interaction.
Works Referenced in Design Assignment | 9.25
Bardzell, Jeffrey and Shaowen Bardzell. “What Is ‘Critical’ About Critical Design?.” Proceedings Of The SIGCHI Conference On Human Factors In Computing Systems — CHI ’13. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2013.
Malpass, Matt. “Criticism and Function in Critical Design Practice.” University of the Arts London: Design Issues, 2015. pp. 59–71.
Design Assignment | 9.25
Based on a newfound understanding of speculative and critical design, our team began to brainstorm ways to take our own stance on the topic and create a conversation piece.
Premise: We chose to reinforce the status quo and conformist values through our class project. Together, we formulated a concept that rejects the existing paradigm as the only possibility, suggesting that there is always an alternative to the way things are currently done or achieved. We fabricated a design to entertain in addition to expose assumptions, encourage discourse between stakeholders, and provoke action.
Reality: A vast majority of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) students believe all-nighters equate to productivity and success. When a student chooses to sleep instead of pull an all-nighter, he feels that he has fallen behind with work compared to peers.
Project: “Wake Up + Makeup” is a commentary on CMU’s stress culture.
Components: A poster details available Wake Up + Makeup products, and includes a hashtag (#CMUbeautiful) to promote social media discussion. Below the poster, the physical products are displayed. Anyone who encounters this setup is able to interact with the design, allowing for a more holistic experience.
Context: The space in which this setup was arranged determined the effectiveness of social impact. After numerous ideas and a lengthy discussion, we chose to situate everything in restrooms because of the design’s personal nature. This decision was grounded in the belief that individuals would more likely take time to read and interact with each component if they were in a private space and public setting. Due to expense constraints, only four setups were installed; they were placed in they computer science building, Gates, since those students stereotypically experience the aforementioned reality.
Response: Our design made an appearance on the Facebook page “Overheard at Carnegie Mellon,” expanding the audience base. The post received 305 reactions and 8 comments from students in the span of two days.
Relation to Reading: Matt Malpass is a lecturer on industrial design and research fellow in critical design at the University of the Arts London; he claims, “For critical design practice to work as commentary or inquiry, its objects need to be viewed as industrial design.” In other words, critical design should not live in galleries, because it will be critiqued as an art piece. It should instead reach a wide audience, leveraging the accessibility of the everyday market as design does.
According to critical designers Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby, the practice is a form of social research, prompting consumers to think more critically about their everyday lives, “in particular how their lives are mediated by assumptions, values, ideologies, and behavioral norms inscribed in designs.” Therefore, the intended takeaway is knowledge, rather than a physical product.
The knowledge gained is the user’s interpretation of the designed object. Through rhetorical use, critical design enables individuals to imagine using such an object in their everyday life.
Our project received the online comment “Where do I sign up? #CMUbeautiful,” which suggests that students can imagine and are envisioning using such products.
The function depends on where the object is, on who is using it, and when. The object’s function is defined by the context of use within a larger system.
I actually heard a few computer science majors on the Cut talk and laugh about it; they said that it would have been useful during the Hackathon, since most of their friends were “downing Monster and Red Bull.” A couple of days later, I saw an old “Overseen at Carnegie Mellon” Facebook post resurface.
Authors Jeffrey and Shaowen Bardzell believe that “[c]ritical thought is in service of social change, from the present to a hoped-for future that is attainable but not immediately within reach.”
Although one individual may shift his mindset and action, the dominant CMU “My heart is in the work” attitude will persist, especially if administration doesn’t address this as issue university-wide.
The purpose of critical theory and design is not to describe the world but to change it. Each critic is valued, whether they wish to protect or overcome their reality; in general, critics bring to life the possibility of intentional social change.
Class Response | 10.7
Anab Jain, Co-founder and Director of Superflux, states, “we treat the future us as strangers and the future itself as a foreign land.”
To address this, we ought to imagine and explore different futures.
In fact, Futurist Stuart Candy suggests that the linear perspective (past, present, future), typically showcased in traditional SCD practice, is not telling. Rather, it is important to remember that: 1) There may be diverse futures conceptions. 2) Historical records note mistaken predictions; futures studies should not aim to predict. 3) Futures are context-sensitive; context refers to spatial and temporal relations. That is, the nature and shape of futures change over time.
Though the future might be open-ended, boundaries may be drawn to help make sense of it all. With axes to indicate time and scale and boundaries to notate possible, plausible, probable, and preferable futures, we may begin to unravel the tangled web of the unknown.
The intersection between design and hypothesizing is speculative and critical design and design fiction.
—Stuart Candy
To further develop an imagined future, we can create and form an experiential future (XF); this can be accomplished through establishing a setting, scenario, and situation. In addition, “stuff of the future” can be inform the audience. It should be known that solely relying upon designed objects to be the telltale of an imagined future is often the shortcoming of traditional SCD.
The Experiential Futures Ladder
- Setting: kind of future
- Scenario: specific future history or state
- Situation: visit-able representation of time and place
- Stuff: artifact or instantiation
In addition to understanding different methods of developing futures, designers should also consider their audience, because SCD is heavily marginalized. We need to question: Whose futures are we talking about? How? And what is the narrative being promoted?
This is vital, because everything we’re moving towards has repercussions around the globe. It is important to learn how to integrate plural accounts into our own work in a respectful and empathetic manner.
Because this is difficult to navigate without feeling like you’re stepping on someone else’s toes, our professor explained to the class that even belonging to a specific field, being a woman, being a specific ethnicity, having a certain experience can be the determinant of “minority.”
She allowed us to explore own own life and discover how we experience marginalization.
This exercise helped me consider what future day-to-day life might be like while still adhering to local cultural practices. However, I did take a very Western approach. It would be nice to look toward Jugaad or hacking for inspiration and begin designing and making in the face of adversity with limited resources.
Works Referenced in Design Assignment | 11.15
Appleby, George A., and Jeane W. Anastas. Not Just a Passive Phase: Social Work with Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual People. Columbia University Press, 1998.
Asphodel, Autumn. “Misconceptions of Mental Illness | Why Don’t People Understand Mental Disorders.” Mental and Physical Health, Autumn Asphodel, 11 Aug. 2015.
Barry, Dan. “Realizing It’s a Small, Terrifying World After All.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 20 June 2016.
Baumle, Amanda K., and Dudley Poston, Jr. “The Economic Cost of Homosexuality: Multilevel Analyses.” Social Forces, University of North Carolina Press, Mar. 2011.
Caroll, Heather. “Serious Mental Illness and Homelessness.” Treatment Advocacy Center, Treatment Advocacy Center, Sept. 2016.
Casellas, Gilbert F. “EEOC Enforcement Guidance on the Americans with Disabilities Act and Psychiatric Disabilities.” EEOC, 3 Mar. 2009.
Eby, Douglas. “Pain and Suffering and Developing Creativity.” Talent Development Resources, The Creative Mind, 24 July 2016.
Foulkes, A.P. Literature and Propaganda. Routledge, 2013.
Heroux, Paul. “Bathroom Bill Myths & Facts.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 30 Apr. 2016.
Huberman, Ben. “We Need to Be Braver: Voices for Diversity in 2016.” Discover, Automattic, 17 Dec. 2016.
Insel, Thomas. “Post by Former NIMH Director Thomas Insel: The Global Cost of Mental Illness.” National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 28 Sept. 2011.
Kendall, Paul. “Why do so many liberal parents hate Thomas the Tank Engine?” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 28 Mar. 2016.
Lowder, J. Bryan. “I Was Born Homosexual. I Chose to Be Gay.” Slate Magazine, The Slate Group LLC, 11 May 2015.
“Mental Health Treatment: Past and Present.” OpenStax College Psychology, Rice University, 2 Aug. 2017.
The National Institute of Mental Health. “Technology and the Future of Mental Health Treatment.” The National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Feb. 2017.
Newitz, Annalee. “The Strange Past and Promising Future of the Lobotomy.” Wired, io9.com, 31 Mar. 2011.
Pelz, Bill. “Mental Health Treatment: Past and Present.” Therapy and Treatment, Herkimer College.
Russell, Stephen T., and Jessica N. Fish. “Mental Health in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Youth.” Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 28 Mar. 2016.
Shidlo, Ariel, et al. Sexual Conversion Therapy: Ethical, Clinical and Research Perspectives. CRC Press, 2002.
Design Assignment | 11.15
Throughout the course of the semester, I have studied speculative and critical design. Now that I have a firm understanding of the field and its critique, I am beginning to construct my own version of practice, which I explored in the class final project.
Topic: gender and sexual minorities (GSM); individuals who live with “mental illness”
Research Question: How are these marginalized groups depicted in the media and pop culture?
Purpose: Currently, the majority doesn’t seem to care if stories about these marginalized groups are incorrect so long as those stories make sense to them and promote their agenda. These falsehoods often develop a negative perception, a ramification that necessitates immediate and continued action.
Intention: If these issues are unveiled, then the majority can no longer be blind to the effects and their impact on others’ lives.
To achieve this, people must learn how society views these marginalized individuals.
I designed an intervention with the intention of provoking meaningful discussion. The end-goal is for each person to react and change their personal and societal misconceptions.
Audience: I intended to unveil society’s reinforced misconceptions to the current U.S. majority.
Intervention: For the purpose of my project, my intervention was in effect framing “social rules” as propaganda.
According to Merriam-Webster, propaganda is defined as “ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one’s cause or to damage an opposing cause.” Generally, propaganda is created for a wide audience and can be translated into various contexts. As Adolf Hitler famously said, “All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach.” Therefore, propaganda, has a large-scale consequence, socially, locally, and potentially globally.
Concept: A society’s predominant beliefs and biases tend to be reflected in artifacts. Those artifacts include children’s books, which are used to teach lessons and provide guidance. Because these books have a strong influence on young people, society’s misperceptions are conveyed. These misperceptions are often about people who are regularly marginalized.
Concept Validity: According to Ben Huberman, Editorial Team Lead of Automattic, “The effects of bias — including the many instances of unintentional bias — reach us everywhere, including the products we use to communicate with others.” Because of this, it is important we invite those who are often underrepresented to share their perspectives. I believe it is our duty as makers to create artifacts that bring to light these views until it is possible to successfully and consistently produce inclusive designs.
With regard to the creation of a children’s book series that facilitates propaganda efforts… it’s not a new concept. For instance, Little Golden Books’ The Little Engine that Could — Dr. Sigman explains, “When one of [the engines shows] signs of independent thinking and disobeys instructions, you can be sure that the troublemaker will, literally, go off the rails. The underlying message is simple: conform to society’s expectations and you will be rewarded; rebel and you can expect to be punished.” This book has been enjoyed by kids across generations and its message has been effective.
Artifact: Based on the popular Little Golden Books, I designed a storybook series, which parents are encouraged to read aloud to their young children.
The first book in the series tells the story of a boy with the signs of depression and anxiety. The mom “mothers” him but is ignorant of her own child’s underlying condition, while the dad chooses to gloss over and hide his son’s feelings (behind a “happy mask”).
Other titles include When Lawrence Knew he was a Ladybug(about gender dysmorphia), How Prudence the Penguin Lives at Both Poles (about bipolar disease), and Why Reggie the Rooster Doesn’t Date Chickens (about LGBTQ community).
Consideration: What if society’s misconceptions are intentionally reinforced by parents, because they read Little Golden Rule Books to their children?
Theme of Collective Work: Protest — to demonstrate strong objection to a course of action adopted by those in authority.
