Design as an agent of narratives: A matrix and framework for incorporating narratives into design processes

Narratives are a deep-rooted channel for expressing and communicating individual and collective human experiences, perceptions, and interpretations of reality. As agents of material culture and embodiment, designers inherently embed and embody narratives through their work, whether consciously and intentionally or not. As such, design inherently serves as an agent of narratives. However, there is an urgent need to challenge and advance the archetypal role of design from inadvertently embodying and perpetuating dominant narratives, to instead becoming a proactive, critical, and generative agent responsible for uncovering, interrogating, speculating, and scaling a diversity of narrative 'sources' and 'statuses' within the design process and beyond. In this article, narratives and their neighboring concepts are explored across various disciplines before the state and impact of narratives within user-centered design contexts are discussed. A 'Narrative Matrix' is outlined, and a Conceptual Framework is proposed which frames design as an agent of narratives through three strategic narrative stages: (1) acknowledgement and capture, (2) negotiation and speculation, and (3) embedding and scaling. The implications and possibilities for incorporating narratives in design and innovation processes are discussed, covering the potential to amplify marginalized voices, advance equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in design practice, and bring about systemic change and transformative impact.