Designing in the Street: Innovation In-Situ

This paper suggests that taking the design process into the field and constantly engaging with the site to observe, intervene, brainstorm, prototype and create fosters unique forms of inspiration and innovation. How does a consideration of participation of both the designer and the user in the space change the design process? With participation comes understanding of the situation and by elaborating on possible futures with users, designers can find lucid innovations. We describe a project conducted by students from the Interaction Design course at the Royal College of Art in London which used a variety of approaches to speculate on the social and technological future of a London street. We discuss and compare the role of different techniques which enable designers to find inspiration for innovative technology in the field, or in this case the street.

Keywords:
Design, Prototyping, Ethno-Fiction