We use two metaphors for describing how the individual designed artefacts relate to a potential future world. First, imagine a world as a distinct entity, one that we can see the overall shape of, but whose complex internal structure is hidden from view. What we can see, however, is a series ‘entry points’. Each designed artefact plays its role as a metaphorical entry point to the fictional world as shown in figure. The second metaphor, which works harmoniously with the first, is inspired by Charles and Ray Eames’ film about relative size of things in the Universe, Powers of 10’. The film shows a number of frames of reference (literally drawn as squares in the film) starting with a 1 meter squared section of an image that includes a couple sitting having a picnic, but then zoomingout and increasing the visible area by one power of 10 every 10 seconds. This changing scale is a device that encourages the viewer to constantly reconsider the scene being viewed. Although we do noyt suggest adherence to the configuration ‘1 power of 10 per 10 seconds’, the basic concept of shifting scale can be applied to designed worlds and the artefacts that create them. We can think of each individual artefact that constructs the world as a representation of that world, but at a different scale. The artificially built world is a prototyping platform for the very designs that define it, meanwhile, those designs reciprocate in kind and prototype the world.
