Designing the Unfamiliar is a master thesis project that explores how design practice would be able to adapt towards the necessary changes regarding artefacts and how long of a leap design could take in the notion of unfamiliarity. This is done by focusing on water consumption with connection to the climate and ecological emergency, and artefacts such as water distribution systems, and how the individual interacts with the unfamiliarity in both aesthetics and use. The report contains three parts that go through the different processes of the project. The first part of the report starts with an introduction to the project, the background, and where it began. How we, humans, have become familiar with our way of life as we know it and all the materialistic artefacts surrounding us. By analyzing how design practices would be able to alter the way of working towards a sustainable future, the individual must be able to get used to the unfamiliar changes necessary in the process. This continues as an exploration of design practices that are artefact-aimed combined with how individuals might interact and accept the changes in products. While analyzing the climate and ecological emergency, the result of our impact, and climate change, especially water scarcity, there is an exploration of what kind of water distributive systems are on the market now and how design is currently aimed towards sustainable alterations. By speculating on alternative water systems and comparing what is already on the market there is a way of researching how people would react to radical changes in artefacts, not only the artefact supplying the water but also the use of it. To be able to explore how design practices will adapt toward necessary changes regarding artefacts, there is a need to explore how the individual will react to the unfamiliarity of change. This leads to a deep dive into the unfamiliarity section, where exposure to the unfamiliar disrupts the comfort of the familiar. With speculation, reaching out to individuals, exploring behavior, and with the uncertainty of how it affects humans on a psychological level there is a question on the possible positive or negative impacts on changes that humans experience. The second part of the report is the design process of the project, where the chain reaction towards change is explored by looking at the supply and demand and how individuals would have to become comfortable enough to either purchase something that is to them, unfamiliar, or to change the ways of using artefacts. This means that becoming aware of one's actions and positively altering the interactions would eventually lead the unfamiliar to become familiar. This is done by engaging with people and asking them questions to establish what people think of the unfamiliar and how or why they choose to interact, or not, with it. By alternative approaches, a set of illustrated prototype challenges are explained. Where individuals, both adults and children, pieces of knowledge, choices, and actions are meant to be tested. During the design process, a conceptual intervention is explored where speculative futuristic water distributive systems are displayed for interaction purposes. This combined with the challenges previously mentioned and gathering of perception of behavior, comments, and notes from the chosen target group.  The third part of the report is an interpretation of the whole process, both the evaluation of the project, a description of the process, to critically evaluate, the result, and a discussion of the author’s thoughts.

The climate and ecological emergency (CEE) is depicted as far in space and time to the (yet) unaffected human through politics not acting according to it as well as media not doing the topic justice. No experiences or experiences only through media depiction are created which the human bases its reality on. This is not only problematic but also mediates a distorted reality of not being and feeling affected by the CEE. (Climate) activism can be seen as a counter-perspective of politics. Extinction Rebellion (XR) – a decentralized movement – mostly aims for polarization, actions in the physical space, and disruptions. Decentral XR groups practice close-making of the CEE through different strategies and affect-mediations in the public space. Nevertheless, like most climate activist actions, it also deals with the dilemma of media depictions. The reach of the action within the public space as an affect-mediation is lesser than the reach through the media translation. If most humans are negatively affected through the media reach, what happens if affect-mediations are executed in the coded infrastructure(s) that surrounds the humans? As human entanglements with the coded infrastructure(s) can be seen as a body-mind-life extension, I aim with this work to intervene in it. By proposing to seed digitally induced disruptions as affect-mediations in the human entanglements with coded infrastructures(s) surrounding them, the work is aiming to practice close-making and enhance the notion of feeling affected. The approach was explored by mapping out the coded infrastructure(s) of the author, making it public through two workshops as well as setting up affect-mediation prototypes. By empowering local (XR) activist groups to explore and generate disruptive ideas based on my proposal, the research question emerged: How can local activist (Extinction Rebellion) groups be empowered to create affect-mediations and therefore affecting bodily experiences with the CEE through executing digitally induced disruptions to support their local demands? While conceptualizing a platform for XR as the Design Project – incorporating and digitally translating the workshop as well as other elements – the concept aims to host a collective pool of digitally induced disruption actions and approaches.

The design project examines collaboratively what transformative climate-communication can look like, and whether conversations can be a possible form of activism. Stemming from a concern that extreme forms of activism and their depiction in media have the potential to highly polarize civil society, the project explores the navigation and negotiation of spaces of communication and interaction in empathetic and connective ways. In the project I look at conversations as an additional or alternative way to disruptive protest forms of activism, within the non-violent liberal civil-disobedience movement and explore how to design for empathy and agency in the context of facilitating and curating spaces, tools and methods. The project recognizes the importance of conversations in the context of shaping opinions, changing perspectives and influencing behavior, and thus their relevance in the context of mitigating and communicating the climate emergency. During the project different conversation tools and methods have been designed, tested and developed in the framework of several gatherings.