SPECULATIVE DESIGN
Speculative design is an area of design research, presents in different design disciplines, where design is about ideas, not -factual- products. It produces artefacts, which are not intended to be mass-produced.
Both Auger (2012) and Dunne and Raby (2013) distinguish speculative design from other design techniques as a space containing different forms of design that all happen when designers use fictional or imaginary worlds, thereby creating a space of challenges free from the restrictions of commercial products and separate from the marketplace. These imaginary worlds take place in alternative presents or diverse types of futures.
Through the different forms of speculative design, designers facilitate “a dreaming process that unlocks people’s imagination” (Dunne & Raby, 2013) asking what-if questions and developing alternative visions. Speculative designers “use fictitious objects at the core of [their enquiries]” (Auger, 2012) as a way to trigger discussions (Mollon & Gentes, 2014) with a broad audience.
Several authors have looked at the aims these speculative designs serve and found that they can function as a form of thinking, questioning and dreaming (Auger, 2012), as provocation and critique (Hales, 2013), and according to Dunne and Raby (2013) as inspiration, aesthetic exploration, speculation about possible futures, and catalyst for change.
DESIGN
critical
Image Respiratory Dog, from the series Life Support, by Revital Cohen, 2008.
Dunne (1999) coined the term Critical Design, which offers an alternative to how things are, unlike affirmative design, which reinforces how things are now. He argues that designers produce these proposals to make people reflect “on existing values, mores, and practices in a culture [thereby] provoking new ways of thinking about the object, its use, and the surrounding environment” (1999). It is a form of design influenced by radical design that is a design movement developed in Italy in the 60s and 70s, in which designers make independent design proposals as a critic of the existing state of affairs.
Independent designers make this kind of proposals working with other professionals through a systematic investigation that, in combination with other design actions, produce provocative artifacts exhibited in art and design galleries.
The results of this form of speculative design are “artifacts as an embodied critique or commentary on consumer culture […] to challenge the audience’s preconceptions and expectations” (Dunne & Raby, 2013). These unusual artifacts use the language of design to ‘touch’ their audience, triggering discussions within the design and art community. Instead of the artifact itself, the value of the project resides in its ability to encourage people to question in an imaginative way.
Example: DIGICARS BY DUNNE & RABY, 2013
Image: Digicars part of the United Micro Kingdoms by Dunne & Raby, 2013.
Dunne, a designer, and Raby, an architect, “use design as a medium to stimulate discussion and debate amongst designers, industry and the public about the social, cultural and ethical implications of existing and emerging technologies” (Dunne and Raby, 2013).
According to them (2013) they apply design fictions, which “uses storytelling as an experimental device to question the world around [them]. Using a combination of concepts, objects and visuals, design fictions are propositions for how things could be done differently. “By working with vehicles [designers] could playfully explore new combinations of political systems and energy sources in a post-fossil-fuel England divided into four super shires, each experimenting with different forms of energy, economics, politics, and ideology.
Digicar is an electric self-drive car, which is the main form of transport for digitarians, a -fictional- society that is organized entirely by market forces. According to Dunne and Raby (2013) “digicar has evolved from being a vehicle for navigating space and time, to being an interface for navigating tariffs and markets”. The project formulates questions about the way that products, services and systems are made and used.
The project was exhibited under the name “United Micro Kingdoms: A Design Fiction” at the Design Museum London in August 2013. In addition to the scale models, a set of pictures, texts, and videos have been set for a compelling narrative.
DESIGN OF
FICTION
Image: Song of the Machine, a Superflux project, 2011.
Bleecker (2009) coined the notion of Design Fiction as a “prototyping technique tailored to facilitating conversations about the near future [3-5 years]”. It is a form of speculative design influenced by science fiction, the stories about an imagined future, in which “narrative and technology converge” (Hales, 2013). As a technique, Design Fiction stands on the intersection of futures studies and design, as a form of “forward thinking intervention” (Sterling, n.d.) or “micro futures studies” (Near Future Laboratory, 2015b).
Designers make Design Fiction proposals either as self-initiated projects or as assignments for clients. Their goal is to “forge a discursive space where design insights emerge” (Lindley and Potts, 2014). The end is to grab public attention and to influence the audience’s thoughts about the future (Sterling, n.d.).
Near Future Laboratory (2015b) defines its process as informal and experimental where “designers can create and embody new possible futures” (Grand and Wiedmer, 2010).
The results of this design form of envisioning are prototypes of common artefacts of tomorrow, which are part of short-term futures (Grand & Wiedmer, 2010), and a short film, which presents a story based on individuals’ relation with the prototypes in a fictional world. Both, the video and the prototypes are used in workshops with clients, or other involved people, as means of communication. Designers use them in two different ways, as a form of representing the concept in a tangible manner, and as a mean of intervening, stimulating the discussion about the future (Hales, 2013).
PRODUCT
CONCEPT
Image: Bio-digester kitchen island by Philips, 2011.
Philips, a company focused in electronics, healthcare and lighting, developed the “Philips Design Probes Program” (1996 – 2012) to “create concepts based on research into emerging ‘societal signals’ and technologies” looking far into the future. Thirteen Vision Concepts are arranged in a specialized portfolio called Design Futures.
Probes projects “are intended to understand future socio-cultural and technological shifts”, culminating in “a ‘provocation ‘designed to spark discussion and debate around new ideas and lifestyle concepts”. Insights gained from debate around the concepts feed into future innovation for the company, “improving the innovation hit rate”.
This Vision Concept is a repositionable kitchen island that is the central hub in the Microbial Home system. The island consists of “a methane digester that converts waste into methane gas that is used to power a series of functions in the home”.
It was exhibited at the Dutch Design Week in 2011. The concept was supported by the Philips foresight initiative, which was developed through the webpage http://designprobes.ning.com/. Additional to the exhibition and the webpage a comprehensive report that “captures all the concepts, though processes and intellectual property ideas”, was used as the input of several workshops within the company.
More info on: “Design of Vision Concepts to explore the future: nature, context and design techniques” (http://jrms.pktweb.com/?p=3777)
VEHICLES
CONCEPT
Image: Buick Y-Job from General Motors, 1938.
The first Concept Car was the Buick Y-Job, designed in 1938 by Harley Earl. It represented an important milestone for General Motors. According to Edsall (2003), it turned the company from an engineering-oriented organization into a design-led one. He claims that the Y-Job represented the first time a designer took the lead in the design of a car, establishing an entirely new way of working within General Motors. As a result, the Styling Section of GM made a fully working prototype built on a production Buick chassis (shown in Figure 3). It was defined as “the first car built by a mass manufacturer for the sole purpose of determining the public’s reaction to the new ideas”, and it was not intended for production. Times have changed since then and the role of Concept Cars has broadened considerably.
The main purposes of Concept Cars, according to the literature, are well balanced between two areas, innovation and branding. For instance, Styhre, Backman and Börjesson (2005) identify innovation and the symbolic importance of Concept Cars in the material culture of our society, while Backman and Börjesson (2006) added branding and marketing, including image building, and internal and external communications. Evans (2011) claims that innovation is the primary purpose of Concept Cars.
The benefits Concept Cars offer, when it comes to innovation, are linked to the outcome as an “experimental artifact” (Styhre, Backman & Börjesson, 2005) but no clear guidelines or details are proposed . Santamala (2006), Backman and Börjesson (2006), Evans (2011), and Lv and Lu (2012) propose that these artifacts stimulate imagination, define new creative limits, and break boundaries regarding product design.
On branding, the literature is more prolific, but it does not identify clear differences between communication for innovation and communication for branding. According to Roscam Abbing (2010), Concept Cars visualize future directions affecting the company from inside and outside. Within the company, Concept Cars create brand identity, and outside, they enhance the brand image of the products . According to Backman and Börjesson (2006), one of the main aims of a Concept Car is to present and visualize the company’s “visions of future design and technology trends”. Internally, this visualization of the future creates guidelines for different functions within the organization, and externally, the vision is communicated. However, Evans (2011) suggests that Concept Cars incorporate trend reports, increasing an organization’s trend knowledge and their consumer foresight, establishing coherent and unified design outputs of the different ideas and products lines.
In regards to the process, Concept Cars are developed as R&D projects, through a series of techniques explored in our previous research. According to Styhre, Backman and Börjesson (2005), Concept Cars offer a “freedom to experiment without being too constrained by existing platforms, regulations or industry standards”. These projects serve as a laboratory for new product development, stimulating experimental thinking and allowing a more freely creative exercise than a typical development project (Backman & Börjesson, 2006). Chris Bangle, former BMW’s head of design, says that GINA (a BMW Concept Car) allowed his team to “challenge existing principles and conventional processes opening possibilities to be more creative” (Squatriglia, 2008). The process of building a Concept Car is also much shorter. Berlitz and Huhn (2005), Styhre, Backman, and Börjesson (2005), and Backman and Börjesson (2006) all claim that the design and development process of a Concept Car varies from six to fifteen months. This in contrast to the development of a production car which can take up to 60 months. The average of ten months to develop a Concept Car includes a final step related to communication, in which the company presents the Concept Car at a motor show to the media: newspapers, TV, and radio (Lv & Lu, 2012), experts and customers (Berlitz & Huhn, 2005), and the general public.
Example: MERCEDES-BENZ F 015 LUXURY IN MOTION, BY DAIMLER AG 2015
Image: Mercedes-Benz F 015 Luxury in Motion by Daimler AG, 2015
Mercedes-AMG, part of Daimler AG, is a brand used for luxury products. It has a specific portfolio of Research Vehicles with a total of 24 Concept Cars from 1993 to 2012, the brand launched 18 (75%) as production vehicles after one and a half year in average.
The main purpose of the F015 is to state, as a branding exercise, that the company is exploring and innovating about autonomous-drive cars. The F015 is a self-driving luxury saloon car with a sleek futuristic appearance.
It is a vehicle “fifteen years ahead of current developments” that “is is growing beyond its role as a mere means of transport and will ultimately become a mobile living space”. According to the head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, the F015 represents “an exclusive cocoon on wheels that enable people to do what they want to do”.
The F015 was presented and subject to a test drive, in the CES (International Consumer Electronics Show) in 2015 as a fully operational -research- car. The fully working prototype was supported by a press release, a comprehensive set of images, videos and texts.