Representing Virtual Places - A Design Model for Metaphorical Design

Abstract

The design of virtual places is metaphorical because it relies on references to the physical world. The use of a consistent metaphor provides a sense of place that combines functionality, familiarity, rich-ness and an awareness of the presence of others. In this paper we consider such designs from a representational perspective. We discuss the characteristics and distinctions of a model of meta-phorical design representation and propose a framework for the development of the representation of metaphorical design. We illustrate this framework with examples of designs of virtual places.