(2015) Audience Construction & The Uncanny – At Goldsmith DF

MAX MOLLON | AUDIENCE CONSTRUCTION & THE UNCANNY | GOLDSMITH DESIGN FESTIVAL 2015
MAX MOLLON | AUDIENCE
CONSTRUCTION & THE
UNCANNY | PRESENTED AT
GOLDSMITH DESIGN FESTIVAL
2015

Speculation as Design Research
Tobie Kerridge, Max Mollon,
Luiza Prado de O. Martins, Alison Thomson
While speculative and critical design (SCD)
approaches have been written about extensively,
there is scope to develop empirically robust
accounts of these practices as a form of
design research.
This symposium brings together an
international group of students and
researchers who are challenging popular
and rhetorical modes of writing about SCD
by responding to issues that impinge upon
their practice, including patient experience,
upstream engagement and colonialism.
Symposium
Friday 4th September, 10:00 - 13:00
LG02, Professor Stuart Hall Building
GOLDSMITHS DESIGN
DEPARTMENT OF DESIGN
gold.ac.uk
FESTIVAL
3 - 9 SEPT
Speculation as Design Research
Tobie Kerridge, Max Mollon,
Luiza Prado de O. Martins, Alison Thomson
While speculative and critical design (SCD)
approaches have been written about extensively,
there is scope to develop empirically robust
accounts of these practices as a form of
design research.
This symposium brings together an
international group of students and
researchers who are challenging popular
and rhetorical modes of writing about SCD
by responding to issues that impinge upon
their practice, including patient experience,
upstream engagement and colonialism.
3 - 9 SEPT

SPECULATION AS DESIGN RESEARCH

SYMPOSIUM ORGANISED BY TOBIE KERRIDGE. PART OF THE GOLDSMITH DESIGN FESTIVAL 2015 OCT. O4TH 
WITH LUIZA PRADO DE O. MARTINS, MAX MOLLON, ALISON THOMSON.
My initial reply to Tobie’s demand:
In my work, I argue SCD uses design speculations to look into
“people's reactions” when facing alternative views to the world
they know. Indeed, “people’s reactions are the true product”
of these practices – as James Auger puts it, in his thesis. For
that reason, I feel the word empiric to echo with the
relationship of SCD to its audiences. Empirical Speculation can
refer to specific phases of the design process: collecting the
audience reactions.  
Collecting people’s reactions can occur along two phases:  
the production & the reception of the artefact.
• First, showing the project to potential users allows to crash-
test the relevance of a speculation (regarding a specific
audience’s background). These experiments allow to test
the ability of a proposition to elicit “meaningful reactions”
and so, to ensure good reception conditions for the
project (eg. avoiding unintended debates). This is close to
classical design’s pre-release user-testing, enabling to
fine-tune the project. I like to call it “potential-user testing”. 
• The second step happens in live conditions of diffusion,
collecting actual reactions of an audience.
To put it in one word, Empirical Speculation is less about
verifying the accuracy of a conjecture than its effect on
people. It is therefore all about ensuring the relevance of a
speculation to a public and collecting its reactions.
For a matter of brevity, we will not go deeper into the
questions of unintended debates, and situated audiences, yet.

BONJOUR!

1. STORY OF THE PROJECT

2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

—

AUDIENCE CONSTRUCTION

& THE UNCANNY
TODAY’S MENU:

THE

MEMENTO MOR-E

PROJECT

MEMENTO MOR-E

9
PLEASE CHECK THE VIDEO:VIMEO.COM/MAXMOLLON/EPHEMERIDE

PROJECT’S INTENTION

RESEARCH INTENTIONS

MAX MOLLON | AUDIENCE CONSTRUCTION & THE UNCANNY | GOLDSMITH DESIGN FESTIVAL 2015MY 3 MASTERS TUTORS

WHAT IS

SPECULATIVE DESIGN
CLAIM?

SPECULATIVE DESIGN AIMS AT

PROPOSING ALTERNATIVES

TO THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT

IN ORDER TO

ENGAGE PEOPLE INTO

REFLECTION & DISCUSSION

HOW TO ALLOW REFLECTION?

WHO TO ENGAGE INTO DISCUSSION?

THEORETICAL
BACKGROUND:

TEXTS STUDIES

PROJECTS ANALYSIS

HOW TO ALLOW REFLECTION?

WHO TO ENGAGE INTO DISCUSSION?
UNCANNY

CONSTRUCTION

EXPERIMENT

FIRST OBSERVATION

SECOND OBSERVATION

GMO › BIG-DATA & LIVING BEINGS HEALTH › HUMAN HEALTH PREDICTIONS ›

› MND & HEALTHCARE › MND & TECHNOLOGIES › INSURANCE PLANS & TECHNOLOGIES › …

WORK IN
PROGRESS

& THE UNCANNY

–

SPECULATIVE DESIGN AS A TOOL FOR

COLLECTIVE REFLECTION & DISCUSSION

ABOUT THE PREFERABLE FUTURES

THANKS!
LICENSED UNDER CREATIVE COMMONS 2.5:  
ATTRIBUTION NON-COMMERCIAL NO DERIVATIVES.

& THE UNCANNY

–

MAXMOLLON@GMAIL.COM

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OF THE EVENT

(2015) Audience Construction & The Uncanny – At Goldsmith DF

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(2015) Audience Construction & The Uncanny – At Goldsmith DF