Over the years, many artists and designers, writers and theorists, even actors and directors, have told great tales of places and worlds that no longer exist or didn’t even exist in the first place. In great depth they describe the materiality of different cities and their environmental conditions, the people that inhabit them and their foods and fashions, and even the different tools and objects that they use as part of their daily lives. This may include fantastical machines and modes of transport that are sometimes similar, and at other times completely imaginary compared with those that we are familiar with. These fantastical tales of science fiction help us to explore and experience a new existence, to test new ideas and methods of communication. They help us to generate new narratives and ways of thinking that allow us to challenge our everyday understanding of design and its application in the real world.
The task for Analogue Design, therefore, is to develop a guidebook, a travelogue, for a location that doesn’t exist, using it as a tool to communicate the different landscapes, environments, fashions, foods and machines that we might find there. It is a hand-bound book that contains a series of images and texts that communicate this fictional place to us, generated through combinations of writing, printing, drawing and collage.
'Worldbuilding' is the most important stage in the creation of novels, science fiction, video games, and other media. On the one hand, worldbuilding helps the audience to engage and immerse themselves in the fictional world, and on the other hand, it is a blueprint for the designer to go back to when needed. Therefore, in Phase 1 of the unit, students were asked to determine the fictional place that they would be presenting and exploring throughout this unit. Working in groups and individually, they developed a great set of maps, drawings and diagrams that begin to showcase their ideas.
After defining what the imaginary place is, in Phase 2 students will focus on visualizing the world that has been created, creating a series of artefacts to reflect the different areas and characteristics of their fictional locations. At the same time, they will be learning foundational skills necessary to create the travelogues, and for their development as designers.
Finally, Phase 03 will establish the history and culture of the chosen place. Students will develop and refine their final guidebooks, as well as create the Design Diaries which chronologically record their design processes in full detail.
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WU Xiaokai，WANG Xiaowen，WANG Jing，WANG Yilin，WANG Quanxin
