FICTIONATION IDEA GENERATION TOOL FOR PRODUCT DESIGN EDUCATION UTILIZING WHAT-IF SCENARIOS OF DESIGN FICTION: A MIXED METHOD STUDY A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF NATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY ÜMİT BAYIRLI IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN SEPTEMBER 2020 Approval of the thesis: FICTIONATION IDEA GENERATION TOOL FOR PRODUCT DESIGN EDUCATION UTILIZING WHAT-IF SCENARIOS OF DESIGN FICTION: A MIXED METHOD STUDY submitted by ÜMİT BAYIRLI in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Department of Industrial Design, Middle East Technical University by, Prof. Dr. Halil Kalıpçılar Dean, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences Prof. Dr. Gülay Hasdoğan Head of the Department, Industrial Design Assoc. Prof. Dr. Naz A.G.Z. Börekçi Supervisor, Department of Industrial Design, METU Examining Committee Members: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pınar Kaygan Department of Industrial Design, METU Assoc. Prof. Dr. Naz A.G.Z. Börekçi Department of Industrial Design, METU Prof. Dr. Hanife Akar Department of Educational Sciences, METU Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dilek Akbulut Department of Industrial Design, Gazi University Assist. Prof. Dr. Canan E. Ünlü Department of Industrial Design, TED University Date: 18.09.2020 I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name: Ümit Bayırlı Signature: iv ABSTRACT FICTIONATION IDEA GENERATION TOOL FOR PRODUCT DESIGN EDUCATION UTILIZING WHAT-IF SCENARIOS OF DESIGN FICTION: A MIXED METHOD STUDY Bayırlı, Ümit Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Industrial Design Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Naz A.G.Z. Börekçi September 2020, 310 pages Design process is an iterative activity that embodies research and planning, idea generation, evaluation and refinement, and finalization phases. Among these, idea generation is evaluated as having the highest impact on the quality of the final design solution since it is the phase that requires the generation of many (quantity), various (variety) and novel (novelty) ideas that will be further developed and resulted as the final product in the following phases of the design process. For the purpose of guiding and supporting designers in the design process and especially idea generation, various design methods and tools have been developed. However, these methods and tools are being criticized for 1) being ineffective in enhancing quantity, variety and novelty of the generated ideas, 2) not being experimentally tested by the researchers and 3) not being supported with illogical thinking, which is one of the essences of creative thinking. This thesis aims to identify the needs of the idea generation process and offer a strategy for design students in order to foster the outcomes of the idea generation process. For this purpose, a mixed method research was conducted. The needs of the idea generation process were identified through observation and peer debriefing, a design tool (Fictionation) that integrates design fiction into idea generation was v created and further developed through a pilot study, and workshops that adopt a quasi-experimental research model was conducted. The findings were evaluated by using the assessment technique that was developed within this thesis and interviews. The results have shown that the Fictionation tool is promising in terms of fostering the outcomes of the idea generation process by increasing quantity, variety and novelty of the generated ideas and achieving an efficient learning and teaching environment within design education. Keywords: Idea generation, Design fiction, Design methods and tools, Design education, Divergent thinking vi ÖZ ÜRÜN TASARIMI EĞİTİMİNDE KURGUSAL TASARIMIN FARZETME SENARYOLARINI KULLANAN FICTIONATION FİKİR GELİŞTİRME ARACI: BİR KARMA YÖNTEM ARAŞTIRMASI Bayırlı, Ümit Doktora, Endüstriyel Tasarım Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Doç. Dr. Naz A.G.Z. Börekçi Eylül 2020, 310 sayfa Tasarım süreci, bünyesinde araştırma ve planlama, fikir geliştirme, değerlendirme ve geliştirme ve neticelendirme aşamalarını barındıran yinelemeli bir süreçtir. Bu aşamalar arasından fikir geliştirme, fazla sayıda (miktar), çeşitli (çeşitlilik) ve yenilikçi (yenilikçilik) fikirler geliştirmeyi gerektirdiğinden ve geliştirilen bu fikirler tasarım sürecinin sonraki aşamalarında daha da geliştirilip son ürün haline getirildiğinden dolayı, son ürünün kalitesine en fazla etki eden aşama olarak değerlendirilir. Tasarım sürecinde ve özellikle fikir geliştirme aşamasında tasarımcılara rehberlik etmesi ve destek olması amacıyla çeşitli tasarım yöntem ve araçları geliştirilmiştir. Ancak, geliştirilen bu yöntem ve araçlar 1) geliştirilen fikirlerin miktarını, çeşitliliğini ve yenilikçiliğini arttırması hususunda yetersiz kalmalarından, 2) araştırmacılar tarafından deneysel olarak test edilmemelerinden ve 3) yaratıcı düşünmenin esas niteliklerinden olan mantığa aykırı düşünme ile desteklenmediğinden dolayı eleştirilmektedirler. Bu tez, fikir geliştirme sürecinin ihtiyaçlarını belirlemeyi ve tasarım öğrencilerine bir strateji önererek fikir geliştirme sürecinin çıktılarını geliştirmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Bu amaç için bir karma yöntem araştırması yapılmıştır: Fikir geliştirme sürecinin vii ihtiyaçları gözlem ve akran bilgilendirmesi yoluyla belirlenmiştir, kurgusal tasarımı fikir geliştirme ile kaynaştıran bir araç (Fictionation) oluşturulmuş ve pilot çalışma ile daha da geliştirilmiş ve yarı-deneysel araştırma modelini benimseyen çalıştaylar yapılmıştır. Bulgular, tez kapsamında geliştirilen bir değerlendirme tekniği ve yapılan mülakatlar vasıtası ile değerlendirilmiştir. Sonuçlar göstermiştir ki, Fictionation aracı, fikir geliştirme sürecinin çıktılarının miktarını, çeşitliliğini ve yenilikçiliğini geliştirmesi ve tasarım eğitimi bünyesinde etkili bir öğrenme ve öğretme ortamı elde etmesi bakımından gelecek vaat etmektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Fikir geliştirme, Kurgusal tasarım, Tasarım yöntem ve araçları, Tasarım eğitimi, Iraksak düşünme viii “In order to determine whether we can know anything with certainty, we first have to doubt everything we know.” René Descartes To my wife Gamze ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation should contain the names of many people on the cover page who have contributed to the process with physical and mental support. I am thankful to all those people for touching one of the most important parts of my life. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to my advisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Naz A.G.Z. Börekçi for her guidance, support, sympathy, attention and friendship. Her valuable feedback, advices and motivation helped me to shape this study. I feel very lucky to have the chance to work with her. I am also grateful to the members of my thesis monitoring committee. Thank you Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pınar Kaygan and Prof. Dr. Hanife Akar for your contributions and valuable suggestions. I owe endless thanks to my dearest friends İ. Yavuz Paksoy, M. Erdi Özgürlük, Dilruba Oğur Aydın, Didem Yanpar Uzun, Semih Danış and Itır Güngör Boncukçu for their support and care. I would like to express my thanks to the METU Department of Industrial Design students who participated to the workshops For sparing their precious time and effort even during their busy schedules. Finally, and most importantly, I would like to thank my wife Gamze for her endless emotional support, encouragement and love. She was always there for me to overcome crisis situations and setbacks. I would also like to thank to my parents for their support and their role in making me who I am today. x TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. v ÖZ ........................................................................................................................... vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... x LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................... xviii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................. xx LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................. xxvii CHAPTERS 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Problem Background ....................................................................................... 1 1.2 Significance of the Study and Contribution to Knowledge ............................. 4 1.2.1 Design Strategy to Integrate Design Fiction into the Idea Generation Process ...................................................................................................... 5 1.2.2 Design Tool (Fictionation) to Generate Various and Novel Ideas ........... 6 1.2.3 Assessment Technique to Measure the Effectiveness of the Idea Generation Process and Proposed Design Methods and Tools ................ 7 1.3 Aim and Research Questions of the Thesis ..................................................... 8 1.4 Scope of the Study ........................................................................................... 9 1.5 Methodology of the Study ............................................................................