Technique Summary
Fictional Inquiry techniques ask co-designers to explore a make-believe narrative space together in order to generate ideas.
Supplies and Preparation
Will depend on the specific Fictional Inquiry technique used.
When and why to use this technique
Fictional Inquiry provides a way for co-designers to share ideas in a space that is make-believe. Child co-designers may be more open to sharing in this kind of fictional space as it helps to circumvent typical social structures and to an extent, power dynamics. Because Fictional Inquiry techniques are open-ended and make-believe in nature, they tend to be best used at the early stages of design processes. While often the co-designers involved may understand that the fictional narrative space is in fact a fantasy, it can create a space for them to be more playful and open. A shared fictional inquiry space can help to remove barriers in thinking of current, real-world possibilities.
How to use this technique
- Before the session, adults should first consider the purpose of the session. This would be your design question. It could be to gather requirements (see KidReporter and Mission from Mars), or to think of new ideas.
- Next, come up with the world in which the Fictional Inquiry will take place. For instance, if you know that many of the children in the group particularly resonate with a particular show or movie, you can set it in that place. If the design question itself is place-specific, a narrative and setting around or within that place could be created. If there is something happening in the world or news that everyone knows about and is talking about, using that setting could work. Settings that are familiar but distant from real life, as well as rich in detail, tend to work well.
- Next, create the story within the setting that will allow you to explore your design questions.
- During the co-design session in which adults and children are present, start by introducing the story. Then, move into the part of the session where co-designers can create in response to the questions asked within the story, and finally end with everyone sharing and debriefing their design ideas.
- See pages on Mission from Mars and KidReporter for examples of specific Fictional Inquiry techniques.
References
Dindler, C. and Iversen, O. (2007). Fictional Inquiry: Design collaboration in a shared narrative space. CoDesign, 212 – 234.
Dindler, C., Eriksson, E., Iversen, O., Lykke-Ilesen, A., Ludvigsen, M. (2005). Mission from Mars: A method for exploring user requirements for children in a narrative space. Interaction Design and Children 2005, 40 – 47.
Hinkler, A., Sobel, K., Lee, B. (2017). Co-designing with Preschoolers: Using Fictional Inquiry
and Comicboarding. Proceedings of CHI, 2017, 5767-5772.
