Perceptual model for semantic representation of design futures practice cases: Towards the development of a design futures repository

Abstract

Various media and forms of cases or works have promoted the development and dissemination of "Design Futures", making empirical research focusing on practical cases not only valuable but also urgently needed. While heuristic case libraries enhance creativity and efficiency in traditional design, a resource library for Design Futures has not been established. To fill this gap, our preliminary work includes clarifying the perception of cases by different practitioners through semantic representation to establish a perceptual model. In this paper, we propose the typology of Design Futures practice cases. Using desktop research, expert selection, and empirical methods, we constructed a semantic perceptual space and further extracted it into four categories. Combining multivariate statistical techniques and related visualization methods, we examined the distinctions and relationships between semantic words, dimensions, cases, and their types. We have finally established the perceptual model for semantic representation of design futures practice cases, with 4 main perception dimensions (critical, wellbeing, conceptual, and technological) and 13 key semantics, and explored in depth the implications these semantics may contain individually. We further explored the potential of the model in developing a case library. In summary, our research findings provide a framework for representing, retrieving, and evaluating practice cases and support the development of a Design Futures Repository.