REFRAMING FROM FUTURE TO PRESENT IN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
Year: 2023
Editor: Buck, Lyndon; Grierson, Hilary; Bohemia, Erik
Author: Barros, Mario
Series: E&PDE
Institution: Aalborg University, Denmark
Section: The effect that design and engineering have on global co-habitation
DOI number: 10.35199/EPDE.2023.9
ISBN: 978-1-912254-19-4
Abstract
Design fiction develops tangible prototypes to assess factors in a near future in a more concrete way. The feedback loop into the present, however, remains as a set of recommendations or guidelines for new product development. This paper describes a methodology that includes reframing specific factors from the future to the present by using two related problem formulations, one in the future and one in the present. The methodology is used in an MSc of Industrial Design course where student teams work on project formulations for Space settings in a near future and reframe the projects to situations on Earth where factors concerning the problem, context, users or working principles are revisited, interpreted and reworked to create a value proposition for the present in a concrete manner. The findings indicate that insights can be interpreted at various levels of abstraction and, when combined with critical thinking, stimulate the reuse of processual aspects and reframing of specific factors addressed in the future formulation into the current project formulation.
Keywords: reframing, wicked problems, industrial design, design education, future forecasting