Design fiction: lateral thinking for social design

Abstract

This article aims to show the results of a product design workshop that has used Speculative Fiction as a creative tool. The experience has been carried out with students of the university degree at Escola Massana in Barcelona.The construction of fictions has been considered as a catalyst tool for a creative journey originated from a given stimulus. The proposal of alternative futures has allowed the questioning of political, economic, ecological or cultural values associated with different parameters. The method has facilitated the creative capacity to produce critical thinking through works and eloquent objects of those futures.Throughout the course, discourses have been developed that facilitate the approach to a critical and sensitive vision of creative production. With this approach we have achieved the construction of an inclusive and universal story that develops alternative futures where all voices feel represented. Likewise, the communicative capacity for the construction of the story itself has been strengthened, exploring languages and diffusion channels that are not usual. Finally, the method demonstrates a lateral approach to the creative fact that enhances the social values of the products achieved.Design Fiction demonstrates its capacity as a lateral thinking tool for a universal design.