Tangible possibilities— envisioning interactions in public space Michael Smyth and Ingi Helgason Centre for Interaction Design, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh m.smyth@napier.ac.uk; i.helgason@napier.ac.uk Abstract This article explores approaches to envisionment in the field of interaction design. Design fictions are intro- duced as a method to articulate future possibilities. Three case studies are described which explore inter- action in public space. The fictions create imaginative projections with the intention of generating reaction and responses in the public that will lead to a greater understanding of the physical and conceptual design space. The first case study explored how citizens could anonymously comment on their relationship with a city. The second study encouraged participants to reflect on their habits and rituals and to view these through fresh eyes. The final case study sought to sur- prise and engage gallery visitors through an interactive piece that raised issues concerning the surreptitious capture of data. The paper concludes by reflecting on the utility of design fictions and the role they can play in concept envisionment. Keywords: design fictions, urban interaction design, ethnography, envisionment 1 Introduction Design plays a central part in our lives. It holds a mirror up to the human condition but it also points ahead to how things could be. It is shaped by the events of today while all the time presenting alternatives to what might be our shared futures. This is not a new role for design; indeed, Dormer in his book entitled Design Since 1945 (1993) reports Ettore Sottsass as stating that design ‘is a way of discussing society, politics and eroticism, food and even design. At the end it is a way of building up a possible figurative utopia or metaphor about life.’ (p. 10). This senti- ment is ever-more pressing in today’s society where technology and science present us with a myriad of futures that seem to be ever-changing. As products and services become ever more complex with the integration of technology, designers are faced with the challenge of integrat- ing form and function into artefacts that provide a meaningful emotional experience for the consu- mer. As if this were not difficult enough, more pro- ducts are becoming dematerialised, raising the question of how this new generation of products and services might reflect the human condition. Paradoxically, as more designs lose their physical form, there is a growing trend to move from the pixilated world of the screen out into the physical world of the urban environment. City populations are currently in a state of rapid flux. Conurbations are fast becoming a hybrid of the physical environ- ment and the digital datasphere. How we, as Digital Creativity , 2013 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14626268.2013.769454 # 2013 Taylor & Francis Downloaded by [Edinburgh Napier University] at 07:15 07 May 2013