Playful prototyping in speculative design practices

Abstract

Prototyping is a fundamental part of the design process. The iterative assemblage and manipulation of shapes, textures, colors, and volumes generate reflections not only about formal qualities but also about possible affordances, functionalities, and meanings. Prototypical artifacts emerge from the negotiation between the in-formed rational thinking coming from research, the mechanical behavior of the material, the human body ergonomics and dexterity, and the serendipitous discoveries happening in the process. Analyzing the creative dynamics happening during prototyping, it is possible to observe similarities between model-making and play. Such dynamics of reflection in action have the creative potential to foster speculative inquiry. The aim of this contribution is to present, through a case study workshop, playful prototyping as a speculative design methodology: a playful approach that can generate extreme, thought-provoking, and radical outputs in the form of diegetic prototypes of speculative design and design fiction.