The Modern Western World
From turnpikes to highways
And gravel into dust
From soybeans to silhouettes advancing in the dusk
Sky above I fell in love while I was sitting still
The rate at which the Rust Belt fades to Appalachian hills, ohDrive south as history unfolds
The awe-inspiring, death-defying, meta-modern world
Take my word, I think we'll be alright
Lost myself along the way, but had the greatest time
I'll pass you somewhere in the night*A stranger out in Utah gestures towards the muddy car
He said, "Hey are you nomads?"
"Did you come from somewhere far?"
I said, "I don't know man, but it feels that way today"
This highway is the last breath of an empire in decayDrive south as history unfolds
The all-providing, soon expiring, modern western world
Take my word, I think we'll be alright
Lost myself along the way, but had the greatest time
I'll pass you somewhere in the night
In their 2022 album “The Modern Western World” by Vansire, as well as it’s title song by the same name, Vansire sings fondly of travelling through the Rust Belt (A region in mid-northwestern America known for it’s industrial collapse and old industrial buildings, now decaying and rusted.) Throughout the video, they use the imagery of places they’ve been like such as the Skyline of Minneapolis and the Highways of Pittsburgh in a “Found Footage” aesthetic that matches the folky and melancholic style of the song.
The album itself is experimental in the sense of it’s progression in it’s own sound. From the beginning, the album presents a folk-like indie sound that progressively adapts and changes as the album goes on into a more modern listening experience. Eventually, the album becomes filled with rappers, electronic music, and more to sell the idea of moving more towards Metamodernity.
But what is Metamodernity?
In it’s roots, Metamodernity is that of the new contemporary feeling. It’s our position in a new era of design now that we have seen post-modernism take it’s course. Metamodernity applies to more ways of thinking than design. It can be about society, or the greater category of “art” as a whole. Rather than approach the concept of design from the idea of working solely for clients and commission based work, designers are finding themselves working more in their own interests and towards goals or personal issues they want to challenge. In Jack Clarkes article “The Role of the (Graphic) Designer…”, he says:
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This new venture has materialized, at least in part, through an increased movement towards de-specialization and authorship (i.e. non-commissioned work) within the field, a development that has ultimately lead to an extension and acceptance of the idea of the ‘professional amateur’ as a legitimate occupation.
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And how does that apply to Design Fiction and myself?
Essentially, we’re seeing modern design take the deconstruction of post-modernist design, and then reconstruct it in metamodernism from a new lens to convey a new message or to provide a warning or insight on a cultural issue. In many ways, this could be considered antithetical to the post-modern doctrine, because metamodernism is actively adding narrative and constructing a worldview on a topic or idea, rather than attempting to deconstruct the idea of design.
Design Fiction, in that sense, feels intrinsically related to Metamodernity in my mind. But what separates a critical perspective of design fiction from a classic dystopian game, or book, or any sort of world created from an artistic medium? If we break down the idea of design fiction into it’s definition, Design fiction is ”a design practice aiming at exploring and criticizing possible futures by creating speculative, and often provocative, scenarios narrated through designed artifacts.”
Is the writing I did in my previous writing “Virtual Insanity” design fiction? Are the brands, technologies, and worlds that I imagined for this idea something that should be pursued as tangible products realized through a digital lens like blender?
What are the limits of Design Fiction?
Can Music be design fiction?
Can Archeology be design fiction?
Can a Video Game be design fiction?
So let’s think about some of the content I interact with often, from the lens of games and music. I think it’s quite easy to find design fiction in a game due to the nature of the props and objects within the game.
We’ve talked about the post-apocalyptic world of fallout before, but I find that the props inside of the game are fascinating due to their branding and concepts being entirely based around nuclear power and radiation, this is of course due to the pre-war reliance of society on nuclear power that sustains everything around them.
In this concept for a post-nuclear power America, the designers view the people within the world as so reliant on “the gift of the nukes” that we design our food, cars, robots, and brands around them. The same can be said for this chilling “Desiccated Sustenance Bar” from Half-Life: Alyx, a VR game from 2020.
Real life prop version of the in game “Desiccated Sustenance Bar”
The bar reads “Desiccated Sustenance Bar - Water Flavor”, the “brand” of the bar is a abstract CMB, a shorthand for Combine, which is the alien race that invaded earth in the Half-Life series and enslaved humans. The alt-text reads “100g - Once seal is broken, consume within 9000 days”
But beyond this, beyond logos and packages with futuristic dystopian ideas on them, can the game itself they came from be design fiction? Can the world of the video game Disco Elysium itself be a form of design fiction? A game is created by a designer, a concept by a designer, the sound of the world by a designer, are they excluded from what we know as design fiction?
How about a song?
Let’s think of the song “Jet Set Classic”, by artist 2 Mello. The song is part of the album “Memories of Tokyo-To” (2018) and distinctly identifies itself as connected with the world of “Jet Set Radio” (2000), in this conceptual album for the game, it expands on the world-building and relationships in the game while sounding stylistically similar to the games original soundtrack created by Japanese producer Hideki Naganuma.
Jet Set Radio, 2000
The world of Jet Set Radio revolves around the gangs and street culture of a futuristic Tokyo called Tokyo-To. The characters fight the authoritarian systems of power, skate around on inline skates, and tag graffiti over the walls of the city. The distinct art style (the first cel-shaded game ever made, in fact) as well as the iconic music with a unique and not seen before style led to a cult following behind the game itself and Hideki Naganuma’s music. The most interesting thing, however, is that the artist 2 Mello and the album itself has absolutely no connection to Jet Set Radio or the music producers of the game.
I argue that 2 Mello, in a sense, has created a “design fiction” where he has lovingly designed more world-building and story around the game within a completely authentic and accurate soundscape that could fit directly in with the original, and at the same time distinctly sounds like his work. He weaves stories and ideas into concepts explored in the game, such as gentrification, running from police, the culture behind the street gangs, and even using the iconic DJ figure “Professor K” from the game to deliver the lines in Jet Set Classic, feeding into the idea that everything the player and listeners hear is being broadcast right from the studio in Tokyo-To, Jet Set Radio.
Connecting all of this in, I think I want to set out on a idea of creating a “world” of which I can operate and create my own design fictions in through the various mediums of writing, graphic design, time-based media and more to attempt to create an authentic, dystopian, warning to people of the dangers of continuing along the path we tread.
An awe-inspiring, death-defying, meta-modern world where the people and places within it reflect the current worlds problems and troubles. Something about all of this design fiction stuff just tickles my brain in a way I seem to really enjoy, the contemplative and questioning nature of it fun to explore and dive into.
