Abstract
The study of speculative designs (such as futures, critical design alternatives, or catalysts for reflection) is well documented in the design research community but the literature lacks attention to speculative designs in the service of a pedagogical practice. This paper reports on a two-year cross European research project investigating speculative designs in higher education contexts. We reflect on a broad data set including interviews, surveys, case studies and workshops involving educators and students. Our contribution draws on the results of this study to propose eight tension-patterns, each an interplay between opposing tendencies that educators and students need to address, more or less explicitly, when creating speculative designs. We then discuss how these tension-patterns can support the design and analysis of speculative designs in educational settings while accommodating different disciplinary, methodological and material constraints. Finally, we conclude by examining two important challenges: balancing creativity and criticism and moving beyond specialized courses.
Keywords
Speculative design, Design pedagogy, Design fiction, Design education
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/nordes.2023.98
Citation
Encinas, E., Helgason, I., Auger, J., Mitrović, I.,and Hanna, J.(2023) Speculative designs in educational settings: Tension-patterns from a (mostly) European perspective, in Holmlid, S., Rodrigues, V., Westin, C., Krogh, P. G., Mäkelä, M., Svanaes, D., Wikberg-Nilsson, Å (eds.), Nordes 2023: This Space Intentionally Left Blank, 12-14 June, Linköping University, Norrköping, Sweden. https://doi.org/10.21606/nordes.2023.98
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
researchpapers
Speculative designs in educational settings: Tension-patterns from a (mostly) European perspective
The study of speculative designs (such as futures, critical design alternatives, or catalysts for reflection) is well documented in the design research community but the literature lacks attention to speculative designs in the service of a pedagogical practice. This paper reports on a two-year cross European research project investigating speculative designs in higher education contexts. We reflect on a broad data set including interviews, surveys, case studies and workshops involving educators and students. Our contribution draws on the results of this study to propose eight tension-patterns, each an interplay between opposing tendencies that educators and students need to address, more or less explicitly, when creating speculative designs. We then discuss how these tension-patterns can support the design and analysis of speculative designs in educational settings while accommodating different disciplinary, methodological and material constraints. Finally, we conclude by examining two important challenges: balancing creativity and criticism and moving beyond specialized courses.