Sixteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

With science fiction movies, people have an idea of how technology will evolve in the future. Thus, the designers involved in the editing and production of such films give us a glimpse of the future technology and product design relationship that awaits users. Today, while designers create tangible artifacts through real-life fiction and user scenarios in a real-life context, it is inevitable to use developing technology as a new material in product designs. To illustrate, a designer must practice the changing role of technology and have some insights regarding technology integration into the design as new material. It is curial for design students to practice technology transition during their undergraduate education. In order for students to gain insights and practice technology-based product design development, a technology-oriented concept product design project was given for a science fiction film, TRON: Legacy. The aim is for students to learn to analyze the fictional world and its elements during this project, define products semiotically, propose ideas for a fictionalized world, and adapt technologies into their design propositions. Sixteen students participated in this project. In the end, the design process and design outputs were evaluated and interpreted as a case regarding the product usage scenario, user-product interaction, form proposition, and visual language harmony of the form of the proposed design. In summary, a fictional technology-oriented design project’s impact on the design process at the undergraduate education level showed students’ intimacy and resonance among the specified design skills associated with one another.