Design Fiction.  A definition seems in order.

An approach to design that speculates about new ideas through prototyping and storytelling.

This reflection stems from an interview with Hugo Award-winning science-fiction writer, Bruce Sterling, in 2012.  Sterling claims that to him, design fiction is “the deliberate use of diegetic prototypes to suspend disbelief about change…  It’s not a kind of fiction. It’s a kind of design”.

Some coincidences are scary.  Not a week ago, I viewed a news story which introduced to me the material ‘Graphene’, a flexible, light-weight, electricity-conducting material which has been dubbed as being “the material of the future”.  It’s future possibilities are endless.  Imagine: A computer tablet the same thickness as a piece of paper.  That you can stretch or shrink to the size you require.  That you could clip on and wear on your wrist.  That you can fold up and place in your pocket.  That can be scrunched into a ball and thrown at annoying siblings, and recovered undamaged.  This video helps to display only some graphene’s characteristics, leaving its applications open to the viewer…

Perhaps the best example of design fiction that I know, was discovered and posted about by one of my fellow classmate’s, Prani.  Using the example of Google Glass, Prani discusses how a seemingly bizarre, somewhat scary, and long-term futuristic concept may only be on the horizon and fast approaching…

Citation:  Bosch, Torie. “Sci-Fi Writer Bruce Sterling Explains the Intriguing New Concept of Design Fiction.” Slate. Web. 29 July 2013.