Mingtao Ma

How can communication design practice be used to speculate about humans adapting to life underwater

Abstract

This research project investigates the future possibility of humans living in the ocean through speculative design. Through a design project, I speculate on the future through the imagining of a city. To be specific, the design of the city framework, artists' renditions of the city, and a map of its construction outline the marine city. Then, I explore this future speculation further through sign design, using my skills as a communication designer. I researched on how the sign and wayfinding systems of an underwater city could give us clues about how humans have adapted to this environment.

This survey is conducted through my design practice, more specifically, in the practice of speculative design. I chose speculative design because before the project started, it was still a field in which I had little experience, and it was a field in which I would like to practice in the future.

In the next 50 years, without inventing innovative new technologies, humans may have to look for alternative habitats due to sea-level rise and population overcrowding. All kinds of practical problems cause people to no longer fantasize about the future. People pay more attention to how to build a human habitat in the ocean and create an underwater city in the Abyssal Plain in the Pacific Ocean. In the face of resource shortage, environmental degradation, overpopulation, and other problems, people cannot solve those complex problems by using conventional concepts. Therefore, I tend to apply speculative design theory to create a fictitious underwater city and use it to inspire the audience to imagine the future of mankind together.

  • 1.Explore the method of speculative design; 2. Research on the factors that lead to the environment degradation; 3. Consider the physical factors that affect the existence of undersea cities

  • 1.Explore the method of speculative design; 2. Research on the factors that lead to the environment degradation; 3. Consider the physical factors that affect the existence of undersea cities

  • 1. Look for similar precedents for underwater city; 2. Construct the basic framework of the city; 3. Design the city model; 4. Design city map and sign

    1. Look for similar precedents for underwater city; 2. Construct the basic framework of the city; 3. Design the city model; 4. Design city map and sign
  • 1. Iterative test of Marine City Sign; 2. Booklet design for Marine City; 3. Marine City poster design

    1. Iterative test of Marine City Sign; 2. Booklet design for Marine City; 3. Marine City poster design

    • Artefacts

    • Select Bibliography

    1. Cavaglieri, 1947. Outline for a history of city planning from prehistory to the fall of the Roma empire. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians., 6, p.22.

    2. Exploring Our Fluid Earth, 2021. Light in the Ocean. viewed 2 May 2021. <https://manoa.hawaii.edu/exploringourfluidearth/physical/ocean-depths/light-ocean#:~:text=Light with longer wavelengths is,able to penetrate more deeply.>

    3. National oceanic and atmospheric administration. 2021. How far does light travel in the ocean? viewed 21 May 2021. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/light_travel.html
    N.d., 2017. Bioluminescence; New Findings from Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in the Area of Bioluminescence Described (Bioluminescence spectra from three deep-sea polychaete worms). Ecology, Environment & Conservation, 1028. ISSN 1945-6492.

    4.Dunne, A.& Raby, F. 2013.
    Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming. MIT Press.

    Filed under

    Visual Communication

    Keywords

    Speculative design，communication design，sustainable design，city planning，booklet.

    Contact

    N/A