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Design Fiction in a Corporate Setting – a Case Study

Published: 10 July 2023 Publication History

Abstract

While speculative methods (e.g., design fiction) could help industry to reflect critically about future products and services, little is known about their potentials and limits when applied in a corporate setting. In this case, we worked with an automobile manufacturer to explore the near future of self-driving cars. For more than a year, we speculated using diverse methods, developed stories about a future with self-driving cars, and told them through 24 artifacts (e.g., city map, quick start guides). In this paper, we scrutinize the process, discuss what has worked and what not, which challenges we faced, and how corporate requirements shaped the emerging design fiction. We saw a trend toward affirmative rather than speculative design, driven by product-centricity and the need to justify process and outcome through concrete innovation. While speculation raised interesting questions about technological futures, it remained a challenge to transform them into concrete design implications.

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  • (2024)Exploring the Roles of Artifacts in Speculative Futures: Perspectives in HCISystems10.3390/systems1206019412:6(194)Online publication date: 3-Jun-2024

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cover image ACM Conferences
DIS '23: Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference
July 2023
2717 pages
ISBN:9781450398930
DOI:10.1145/3563657
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Published: 10 July 2023

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Author Tags

  1. Design fiction
  2. affirmative design
  3. automotive industry
  4. design methodology
  5. design process
  6. research through design
  7. speculative design

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DIS '23
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DIS '23: Designing Interactive Systems Conference
July 10 - 14, 2023
PA, Pittsburgh, USA

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  • (2024)Exploring the Roles of Artifacts in Speculative Futures: Perspectives in HCISystems10.3390/systems1206019412:6(194)Online publication date: 3-Jun-2024

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