This exploration delves into how design can promote self-reflection, ignite imagination, and foster positive social change. Good design traditionally solves practical problems, enhancing everything from buildings to kitchen tools. However, this work posits that design can also address societal issues by encouraging ideological shifts. The authors survey recent critical design practices and introduce discursive design, a socially minded approach that challenges the conventional view of good design as unobtrusive and intuitive. Instead, discursive design engages the intellect, prompting reflection and imaginative thinking. This concept expands the role of design, allowing objects to serve as tools for contemplation. The authors present a comprehensive vision that encompasses various design methodologies, such as critical, speculative, and adversarial design. They illustrate how objects can be utilized in diverse contexts, such as therapy sessions, community discussions, and activism, to better understand and engage with societal values and beliefs. By fostering new ways of thinking, discursive design aims to catalyze sociocultural change, highlighting the potential for design to be a catalyst for positive transformation in our futures.
