Exploring the Opportunity of Diegetic Prototyping as an Approach to Design Innovation

Abstract

This study investigates diegetic prototyping as an alternative approach to enhance design innovation beyond the incremental scope of User-Centred Design. In contrast, while speculative design, including diegetic prototyping, embeds future-oriented ideas within narrative contexts, promoting critical reflection on societal and technological implications, it often lacks focus on practically viable design innovations. Employing a Research-through-Design approach, we developed three diegetic prototypes to evaluate their effectiveness in design innovation. The three prototypes are classified as look-and feel, role, and implementation prototypes. Audience feedback, gathered through surveys and focus group interviews, assessed perceptions of novelty, acceptability, and innovativeness, wherein design innovation is positioned as a tension between novelty and acceptability. Findings suggest diegetic prototypes may effectively balance provocative speculation with user acceptability. This highlights their potential role in bridging speculative ideas with practical viability. This research proposes diegetic prototyping as a valuable method for expanding innovation opportunities beyond traditional user centred approaches, facilitating tangible engagement with plausible, future scenarios.