The NEOLOGISER workshops build on the DESIGN FUTURES LEXICON and pay attention to the role of words as design material. The tool intends to help designers become more sensitive to the importance of words in shaping futures by highlighting that words are carriers and shapers of meaning. Through a series of activities and resources, NEOLOGISER strives to familiarise designers with the idea of creating new words or ‘neologisms’.
The workshop was designed to support the PhDs in generating new words for FUTURES DESIGN and DESIGN FUTURES LITERACIES. By using a set of action prompts, PhD students reflect on the character of word formation at a broad level and thereby also for their own research project and related design work. This involves designer-researchers becoming aware that neologisms are a common part of our everyday language and engages them to also become comfortable with the idea of making their own new words and consequently building concepts and developing related definitions.