The Future of Critical Design and Where Does It Lead Us?
The realm of design is changing rapidly together with the development of technology, and in the symbiotic relationship between design and technology, AI technology in particular has become a vital influencer. Supported by the enormous data it reserves, AI can even produce a “cloned” version of us after we pass away. This thus sets a curious proposition in that the human relationship may hence embrace a revolutionary change due to such technology. For those who are left behind, how would they look at the relationship between them and the AI version of us? Is the love between humans thus be turned into some sort of fetish? Such conceivable future context driven by growing technology such as AI sets the background for design of tomorrow, since the scenario of future serves as an urgency that constantly drives and promotes the changes to take place as the process of design turns into a future-orientated strategy to tackle practical problems and settle emerging new pursuits from the consumers who grow in the context of technology themselves (Dunne & Raby, 2013). In this sense, design goes far beyond styling, self-promotion and propaganda per se.
In this process of change, critical design is still part and parcel since it focuses on critical thinking to usher these new possibilities by providing a dialectical status between the fictional and the reality (Dunne & Raby, 2013). Consumers or critical shoppers are core in the process to nurture ideas to take place, e.g. they will decide whether AI technology is acceptable, which may intervene the existing human relationship. To Dune & Raby, it thus becomes the foundation for critical design to be built upon as discerning citizen-consumers are formed through their observation, interaction with technology and expression of their appeals, and that the boundary of psychological and emotional experiences is expended (Dunne & Raby, 2013). The future of critical design is beyond the traditional sense of art but more of a ground-breaking revolution that totally changes our life.
Creating scenarios, design prehearsals and prehearse are important steps in critical design (Kuzmanovic & Gaffney, 2014). Creating scenarios means that the situation in which key question, factors and driving forces need to be carefully identified to pave road for the ‘critical’ process to really take place. In design prehearsals and prehearse, the step of framing and prototyping are significant to truly realize some life-changing goals. Especially concerning with the fashion industry, the tomorrow is full of uncertainties as the future of the earth is change, bringing threats such as global climate change and limited resources (Forum for the Future, 2009). Briefly, the evolution of critical design resonates with the development of technology and future treats and challenges, it serves as a neutral expression for the designers to explore together with the application of emerging new methodologies presented in the advanced technology. In this process, the changing relationship and emotion also become mediator for citizen-consumers to choose for themselves whether the design that travels far beyond traditional sense is acceptable.
Reference
Dunne, A., & Raby, F. 2013. Speculative everything: design, fiction, and social dreaming. MIT Press.
Forum for the Future, 2009. ‘Fashion Futures 2025’ Retrieved 6 Oct, 2017, from: http://www.forumforthefuture.org/project/fashion-futures-2025/overview
Kuzmanovic, M. & Gaffney, N., 2014, ‘Prehearsal PocketGuide: methods for futurepre-enactments,’ Retrieved 6 Oct, 2017, from: https://libarynth.org/future_fabulators/prehearsal_pocket_guide
Exploring our sexual futures 