Abstract

The first relation between design practices and anticipation studies is related to the use of scenarios and their capability to shape possible futures. Writing about scenarios in future studies is writing about myths of future. It is possible to imagine the characters and approaches that will shape and influence events. Design however has not adopted the futurist practice per se but has reshaped it narrating the areas of the possible through design approaches. Scenarios – being complexes of meta-information, maps open to different innovation paths that provide strategic direction but also formal, technological, and material suggestions, Design e Innovazione. Strumenti e pratiche per la ricerca applicata. Roma: Carocci Editore, 2007) – emerge as the most relevant tools that create, transfer, and allow sharing ideas of the futures within the design process.Literature offers many definitions of future scenarios within the design field. They are considered as business prognostication tools or as strategic tools “to inform, validate and endorse design decisions, to define a strategy and to help decision makers”.The chapter offers a theoretical overview on scenarios literature, then focusing on design scenarios characteristics and application and offering a reading model of their objectives and outputs along a design process, thanks to the presentation of case studies from different productive fields – transportation, electronics and home appliances, and fashion, as emblematic cases. In particular, the discussion highlights stakeholders, approaches, and tools that shape typologies and functions of scenarios within the different design sectors and that articulate different perspectives on the anticipatory value of the design practice.