Narrative Design

← 6 | 7 →

Preface

The content of the book Narrative Design. The designer as an instigator of changes is derived from a study developed for the bachelor degree in Design and Arts presented in July 2013 at the Free University of Bolzano. The project aims to analyze the theme of the stereotype as a process with a strong social and cultural importance in our contemporary society through a design approach. The stereotype has been acquired as an abstract design incentive through which one can understand how reported knowledge on other countries are formed and how these images influence a future encounter with the Other. Each designed object aims to produce a three-dimensional visualization of the stereotype through a free interpretation of the phenomenon itself.

In November 2014, following the appointed graduation prize within the Forum “Kulturen im Dialog”¹ regarding the relationship between peoples, I had the opportunity to carry out my research and to publish the results of my work. The book integrates the project by opening a discussion on themes and emerging strategies about the role of the designer today and presents historical and contemporary perspectives through design practices that are committed to provide proposals and solutions to social issues. By the analysis of several case studies, the research displays a method and an approach to design as narrative instrument, a design practice capable of conveying messages and content beyond the functionality and the aesthetic of the objects. Products and processes that fill our ← 7 | 8 → daily life experiences and which assume a value of cultural medium to explore and propose complex issues through the artistic dimension. Objects charged with a strong narrative vocation capable of telling a complex story even before reacting to a practical function.