Magic as a Phenomenological Tool for Designing Technology

Abstract

This paper presented is the culmination of four-year project that explores how designers might exploit notions of transformation from an anthropological and phenomenological analysis of magic to design practice. This project developed a sophisticated model of how design processes can be linked to magic and how this can be employed as a creativity technique with the potential for generating highly original and applicable solutions for industrial and product designers. The model has been used in this way to develop, for instance, convincing scenarios for product innovation, novel and engaging interface design or a more thorough approach to the embedding of ecological considerations in new-product development