The Manual of Design Fiction
Paperback edition
The definitive book which describes - in accessible and vivid detail - the origins, evolution, and practice of design fiction: “the practice of creating tangible and evocative prototypes from possible near futures, to help discover and represent the consequences of decision making."
Written by Julian Bleecker, Nick Foster, Fabien Girardin and Nicolas Nova in collaboration with Patrick Pittman and Chris Frey of No Media Co. Designed by Chris Lange
We find ourselves at a moment in time when an increasingly complex state of the world - and our place within it - makes an orientation towards the future not only relevant, but essential. Today, no future is improbable, which is why the unanticipated white space - the void of unknown unknowns - must be investigated, considered and discussed at all levels of an organization.
From climate change and economic instability to rising inequality and the fragility of democratic institutions, we face a panoply of uncertainties. For too long major decision makers have largely treated the future as a matter of business modeling, an engineering problem, some sort of sexy vision exercise, or savvy marketing campaign to foment anticipation around future products. What we need are alternative frameworks or mindsets for decision making that consider solutions along with their risks and implications, while incorporating a diversity of both disciplinary and human viewpoints.
Design Fiction is a method to vividly render tangible futures by creating material artifacts that represent the implications of change. Design Fiction is as much a mindset as it is a methodology whereby foresight, research, expectations, strategic direction, and planning can be cohered into representational ‘artifacts from possible futures.’from possible futures. Design fiction opens up new conversations and considerations whilst augmenting existing, well-trodden research and foresight practices.
Over fifteen years in the making, this book explores the origins of design fiction, and details the practical approach to assessing the consequences of decision making by creating tangible artifacts from possible futures. Design fiction opens up new conversations and considerations whilst augmenting existing, well-trodden research and foresight practices. The writers of this book have used design fiction approaches with clients such as Apple, Warner Bros, IKEA, Edelman, Dubai Museum of the Future, Google and Facebook, and they aim to bring these techniques to a wider audience through the publication of this book.
“The Manual of Design Fiction is an unparalleled, rigorous insight into the philosophy and practice of design fiction from the pioneers of the approach… This book is not a step by step how-to guide, nor is it a treasure trove of quick fix methods and tools for those interested in applying design fiction to their work. Rather, and more importantly, this is a book about an approach, a philosophy, a mindset. And a crucial one at that; one that will not limit us to tools we already use to address familiar problems, but rather an approach that opens up the ways in which we can address uncertainty and traverse new possibilities.”
Anab Jain - designer, futurist, filmmaker and educator, co-founder of Superflux
Product details
Softcover - 247 pages.
Written by Julian Bleecker, Nick Foster, Fabien Girardin and Nicolas Nova with Chris Frey and Patrick Pittman.
Additional contributions by Israel Viadest
Edited by Chris Frey and Patrick Pittman of No Media.
Designed by Chris Lange
Set in Lyon Text (2009) by Kai Bernau and anchored with Classic Grotesque (2012) by Rod McDonald.
Language: English
Printed by Ofset Yapimevi in Istanbul Turkey on a Heidelberg Speedmaster SX102
First printing - 2022
Second printing - 2023
ISBN 978-0-9905633-1-0 (Hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-9905633-3-4 (Softcover)
“Somewhere between whimsy and earnestness, between hope and terror, between seriousness and sight gags, lives ‘design fiction’, a method and a medium for structured hope about futures we may dread or yearn for.”
Cory Doctorow - Journalist, Author
Read Excerpts
Table of Contents
We started working on this book with the seemingly straightforward intent of creating a manual about the practice of design fiction—a book that almost anyone could pick up and quickly get a handle on this practice we’ve been refining over more than a decade, and go on to apply the tools and tactics of design fiction in their own work. You will find much of that nitty gritty of developing your own practice in this book.
Design Fiction: TL;DR
We think of design fiction practice as more of a mindset or approach with an accompanying grab bag of activities, methods, and tactics, rather than any sort of defined system. Still, as a starting point it definitely helps to have a handle on the key steps involved. We’ve broken it down into ten parts, unfolding in a more or less linear manner, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Think of them as modules that can be recombined according to your needs. There is no specified time period for the entire process, nor for each step.
Chapter 29: Entertaining uncertainty
A conversation with the Julian Bleecker, Nick Foster, Fabien Girardin and Nicolas Nova on what design fiction is, what it means to them, and what it could mean to other people.
“People need a motivating vision of what comes next and the awareness that more will happen after that… the future is a process not a destination. The future is a verb not a noun.”
Bruce Sterling - Novelist and Critic