28/05/2026
No. 88 (2026): diid disegno industriale industrial design
For some time now, diid has been seeking to intercept transformation, focusing on Change Studies, because we are convinced that where design is able to grasp the change, there arises a demand for design, an explicit need, an urgency for answers, clients who require attention. Our editorial surveying is unable to keep pace with the acceleration that change is currently undergoing: the timescales of scientific publishing do not coincide with those of the reality we are living in. However it sometimes happens, as in issue 88, that we succeed in intercepting certain enduring islands in the contemporary debate such as the one in which design deals with the fuzzy front end of innovation. The designer produces synthesis, and the disorientation caused by the acceleration in the speed of change tends to produce blurred, subjective and sensationalistic images rather than verified and shared ones. This Open Debate explores the intersection between design, unpredictability and the development of emerging design skills. In contexts characterised by uncertainty, complexity and constant change, it examines the role of design in challenging the status quo and developing innovative research methods and practices to address unstable and rapidly-evolving situations. Rather than consider the future as a fixed destination for design, this debate concentrates on designing with the future, considering its fragility, plurality and transformative potential. The discussions included here reflect on approaches that seek to reach beyond simple adaptation, proposing inclusive and transformative interventions that prototype alternative possibilities, inviting us to imagine what might be instead of restoring what was, through a systemic perspective.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30682/diid8826
Published: 2026-05-27
