"I use the term 'DesFi' as a play on 'SciFi'. In that 'SciFi' narratives and visualisations are fictional scenarios based on scientific discoveries and discussions. Im particularly interested in how the genre of 'science fiction' can provide an example approach for design students to consider when they are conceptualising potential designs for future contexts.
The DesFi approach allows design students to put aside existing limitations… such as current issues around voice recognition, language translators or even access to personal data. These limitations are based in technical, political and sometimes ethical arguments that, although undeniably critical to design feasibility, can suspend design innovations if we only consider the policies, technologies and processes that exist right now.
My premise to the students is that such contemporary concerns may be solved by another discipline in the near or far future. Consequently, attitudes will shift, new technologies will emerge and the criteria and inventory for design specifications will change.
Limiting our design ideas to current issues may dilute the potential for innovation… but more importantly, by prototyping great imaginative design solutions, we can increase the demand for change through demonstrating the possibilities that emerge from overcoming the conditions and contingencies of designing products for only todays market and todays user."
(Deb Polson, 25 November 2013)
http://www.qut.edu.au/study/courses/master-of-creative-industries/master-of-creative-industries-interactive-and-visual-design
http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2013/10/play/patently-untrue