In defense of design fiction for the future of business

In 2017, PwC Australia manager Amy Gibbs published the article “Using science fiction to explore business innovation” as a way to better tangibilize how this artistic genre can, in fact, generate innovation in corporate environments.

As a classic example, Gibbs pointed to the fact that so many fictional gadgets in Star Trek have become real, publicly accessible technologies over the last few decades. For her, “these objects materialized in reality, in part, because investors and scientists were inspired by their conceptual appeal, how they would be integrated and used in an imaginary world, and then found a way to make at least a part of that the future we live in today.” As we contemplate that future, the author continues, with the narratives in which these new products and services are offered, we are better equipped to think about and build an innovation project.

“While science fiction often envisions possible futures, it (usually) does not prophesy them. That is a better pastime for futurists, economists, and Nostradamus. Science fiction, as entertainment, on the other hand, aims to address the human condition.”

For Gibbs, the nature of science fiction lies in its plausibility, which differs from other fantasy narratives that deal with universes that do not follow the same logic as ours. “This shared reality allows us to examine how innovations could be used and, from there, see their value,” she argues. In this sense, it is no surprise to see different examples of science fiction works, whether literary or cinematic, that have become a reference for prediction and influence on the way we live today as a society.

In this sense, methodologies like design fiction aim to generate, through experimentation, the possibility of visualizing futures based on a specific purpose, while setting aside the limitations—whether economic or technological—of the present. As Gibbs explains, “the method uses fictional future scenarios to imagine and examine the use of products. While this can be seen as a form of prototyping, there is a subtle difference regarding the expanded universe that surrounds these creations.”

The term, in fact, was coined in 2009 by Julian Bleecker, who defines design fiction as a methodology that “creates these conversational pieces, with the conversations being stories about the types of experiences and social rituals that can surround a created object.” Or, in the words of science fiction author Bruce Sterling, one of the most prominent names in the methodology, design fiction “proposes the deliberate use of diegetic prototypes to suspend disbelief about a change.” In other words, it is through the science fiction mindset that objects, systems, and behaviors are created, generating a story and a context to be analyzed as a future possibility—whether good or bad.

In this sense, one of the benefits of design fiction, as Gibbs argues, is that it allows companies to invent things and analyze them from the point of view of applicability and relevance in a future. This includes aspects such as interaction with these artifacts, the role they play within a context with other everyday objects, their side effects, and other issues that may be raised according to the specifics of the narrative created for them.

“Design fiction has a human focus at the time of creation, similar to design thinking, which aims to solve a problem of the present. By putting the social or the human/consumer first and technology second, it allows designers to understand the effectiveness of the product and discuss its potential flaws.”

Among the companies that have already brought design fiction in-house are names like Microsoft, Google, Apple, and also Embraer, here in Brazil. In the case of foreign companies, there is also an interest in hiring science fiction authors and connecting them with their developers to help them expand their vision of the future beyond a shorter timeframe. However, as Gibbs reinforces, corporations have the advantage of having engineers who can turn fiction into reality, but local businesses may not have the same possibility, which leads us to explore other methodologies and implementations that may be more accessible and aimed at a shorter-term future.

Knowing what to create when you are tasked with driving disruption in a competitive landscape can be a complicated job. The good news is that writing a fictional scenario for your product or business line is not only fun, but it also helps generate ideas. It allows you to explore these concepts more freely and from the ground up. By extrapolating today's sociological and economic trends and imagining the future, companies can examine the potential applications of their core competencies. This gives them a clear goal for product development or service delivery.

Amy Gibbs suggests that companies focus on creating a future based on trends already visible in their day-to-day operations, then extrapolate them into the more distant future. “Flesh out the details of the world, add some characters to interact with it, and start asking questions. What objects will define this new world? What needs could your business address? What would be the most incredible version of your product or service if money were no object? Keep asking questions, identify the puzzles, and then work to make those things possible.”

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