SBYD ZINE #07 – NARRATIVES OF SUSTAINABILITY
This zine gathers texts, tools, and design projects from the SPACE FOR NARRATIVES. Rather than presenting final results, it serves as a catalyst for ongoing inquiry into how design actively shapes—rather than merely reproduces—narrative structures.
Products are never just things. They are materialised assumptions about how we want to live. They embody ideas of progress and efficiency, of comfort, responsibility, or sacrifice. These ideas are rarely articulated explicitly—and that is precisely why they have such a powerful impact. They shape markets, guide expectations, and influence everyday routines. In short: products can tell stories.
Engaging with narratives in product design therefore does not start with selecting the ›right‹ material or the optimal construction method, but with identifying
underlying frameworks of interpretation. What meta-narratives—such as growth, individualisation, or sufficiency—frame contemporary product logics? What images of users, concepts of value, and visions of the future do they reinforce? And what alternatives might be conceived, narrated, and designed?