Miguel Angel Cantú García, Daniela Cassandra Delgado Neaves

The worldbuilding mindset in Industrial Design: Shaping the designer’s perspective

Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León; San Nicolás de los Garza Nuevo León. Facultad de Arquitectura. Worldbuilding Consortium

Industrial design is a discipline typically fixated on the expeditious production of
tangible outcomes; it can sometimes neglect the holistic understanding of contextual
factors. However, the infusion of a worldbuilding perspective into this discipline could
catalyze a paradigm shift. Designers are nudged to explore overlooked dimensions of a
project, like culture, economy, or infrastructure, fostering collaborations across disciplines.
This integration of narratives redefines the essence of a successful project, emphasizing
comprehensive backgrounds over superficial technicisms.

This transformative approach was demonstrated in the experiences of industrial
design students at the Faculty of Architecture, UANL. Over four cycles from 2021 to 2023,
these students participated in the Junk workshop, an innovative platform challenging them
to envision a world nearly three centuries into the future.

Throughout the workshop, students embraced collaborative tools and engaged
with Alex McDowell’s world creation methodology: international collaboration, interviews
with multidisciplinary experts and interconnection of concepts added depth to their
exploration. The outcome has been profound—a nuanced perspective on their profession,
a redefined role as designers, and a holistic approach to complex projects. This method
ensured an unwavering focus on the interdependence of variables at both macro and
micro scales, challenging paradigms within the thematic realms of their projects.

Miguel Angel Cantú is an Industrial Designer with a Master’s degree in Science with a focus on Design Management and Innovation at the Faculty of Architecture, UANL. His thesis centered on the teaching of drawing from various psycho-pedagogical perspectives, aiming to elucidate the processes that have been relatively understudied until now. Alongside his research, he has served as a drawing instructor at the Faculty of
Architecture for 5 years, and concurrently works as a freelance illustrator for clients in the
United States and Great Britain.

Cassandra Delgado is an Industrial designer graduated from the Universidad Autónoma
de Nuevo León. She is currently taking a Master’s Degree in Design Management and
Innovation on the topic of affordances and usability, focusing on a case study of the
brassiere. As a teacher and an illustrator, she has centered her career in drawing and
storytelling, while also dedicating herself to freelance digital art and comics.