DRS2012 Bangkok Proceedings Vol 4 - Design Research Society

A changing world
Anna Valtonen
To predict the future of a professional practice is never easy. There are many external
factors, such as the arrival of new technology, which affect the development of the
practice but are difficult to predict (Abbott 1988).
According to Margolin (2007, 10) envisioning the future is a problematic enterprise, given
the cacophony of competing visions that describe how the world could or should be. This
puts designers and the design professions in a difficult situation. Or as Heskett (2001, 26)
puts it: “Should designers fail to adapt [to this change], new competences will emerge to
fill the gap left behind. The evidence from history is that design, as a basic human ability,
is constantly needed to adapt and redefine itself to meet the needs of time. We should
expect no less of our age”.
Although there are difficulties in predicting exactly what the change would be, not many
question the fact that the practice of design is changing, and most likely in a very rapid
pace.
How can we react to this change?
Many talk about what the future should or could be, but a lot less actually do something
about it. Buchannan calls design an inquiry and experimentation in the activity of making
(1995a,30), and says that the professional practice of design should aim at proactively
participating in the changing of the world rather than invite experts on the future to tell
them what the world will be like in the coming years and passively accept their viewpoint
(2010,1).
Designers are reflective practitioners, who often approach a practical problem, prototype
it, reflect over what they are doing in action, and then learn and make conclusions based
on their reflections rather than on a pre-defined theoretical base of knowledge (Schön
1983). So prototyping has always been a crucial part in how designers think and Brown
(2011, 88-89), claims that prototyping in design generates results faster than just talking
about them, as complex issues can be made more tangible and the results can be used
to make the debate more concrete.
Traditionally, prototyping is used when developing a new product, but recently prototyping
has also been used in making the unforeseen future more tangible. Kippendorf (Mitchel
1993,71) talks about the designers' ability to invent or conceive possible futures and their
ability to work with how desirable these futures are. Laurel (2003,17) notes that design is
increasingly seen as a front-end method, aiming at a set of methods and practices for
getting insight into what would serve and delight people.
In Umeå Institute of Design we wanted to understand what industrial design would be in
the future and wanted to develop design education in a creative yet strategic and
controlled way. We thought that as we as designers claim to be able of coordinating
creative processes for enterprises and public organizations, why do we not use design
methods to understand our own future and make it more tangible? We wanted to imagine
a potential future, prototype it, and then reflect over action.
Empiria from a practical example
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