Bridging Design and Fandom
Fan Studies and Design Research in Conversation
Will be published approx. on 7. October 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
328 pages
978-1-80592-662-7 (ISBN)
Description
The ebook edition of this title is Open Access and freely available to read online.
Fandom studies and design are both relatively young disciplines both of which are familiar with interdisciplinarity, and with co-production and participation. Using contexts such as technology, sustainability and urban space, Bridging Design and Fandom brings together Fan Studies and Design Research to explore the many ways these two fields overlap.
Divided into thematic sections, this edited collection focuses on pressing current challenge areas that both fan studies and design can speak to including affordances and platforms, digital fan design, entrepreneurship and consumerism, sustainability, and tourism and urban space. Showcasing the power of interdisciplinary collaboration and how these fields can fruitfully interconnect to create new knowledge and outcomes, contributors with expertise from a wide range of inter and multidisciplinary backgrounds consider both new technologies and traditional practices, giving a holistic overview of how tangible physical practice and intangible digital contexts, theories and infrastructures can both form a part of design in this space of fan research. The collection explores design challenges such as how platform infrastructure underpins much of the modern media landscape in which fans operate, and emerging areas for fan studies such as considering the environmental impacts and sustainability of fan activities, which intersect with major areas of current design research focus.
Readers of this book may come from design research backgrounds, fan studies backgrounds or range of related social science disciplines such as sociology and media and communications. It is unique new reference point as an introduction to new methods and approaches and an opening to new areas for exploration and research with the power of interdisciplinary endeavour at its core.
Fandom studies and design are both relatively young disciplines both of which are familiar with interdisciplinarity, and with co-production and participation. Using contexts such as technology, sustainability and urban space, Bridging Design and Fandom brings together Fan Studies and Design Research to explore the many ways these two fields overlap.
Divided into thematic sections, this edited collection focuses on pressing current challenge areas that both fan studies and design can speak to including affordances and platforms, digital fan design, entrepreneurship and consumerism, sustainability, and tourism and urban space. Showcasing the power of interdisciplinary collaboration and how these fields can fruitfully interconnect to create new knowledge and outcomes, contributors with expertise from a wide range of inter and multidisciplinary backgrounds consider both new technologies and traditional practices, giving a holistic overview of how tangible physical practice and intangible digital contexts, theories and infrastructures can both form a part of design in this space of fan research. The collection explores design challenges such as how platform infrastructure underpins much of the modern media landscape in which fans operate, and emerging areas for fan studies such as considering the environmental impacts and sustainability of fan activities, which intersect with major areas of current design research focus.
Readers of this book may come from design research backgrounds, fan studies backgrounds or range of related social science disciplines such as sociology and media and communications. It is unique new reference point as an introduction to new methods and approaches and an opening to new areas for exploration and research with the power of interdisciplinary endeavour at its core.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Bingley
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-80592-662-7 (9781805926627)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Naomi Jacobs is Lecturer in Design Policy and Futures Thinking at Lancaster University, UK.
Content
Chapter 1. Introduction: Bridging Design and Fandom; Naomi Jacobs
Part 1. Affordances and Platforms
Chapter 2. Defying Gravity: Solving the "Wicked Problem" of Film Fandom in the Pre-Digital Age; Lies Lanckman
Chapter 3. We Remember K-pop: A Study on the Mutual Constitution of the VLIVE Livestreaming Platform; D. Rodriguez
Chapter 4. Creative Digital Practices to Support Sociopolitical Movements Online: The Case of BTS ARMY, BLM, and the #MatchAMillion Fundraiser; Christopher Housseaux
Part 2. Digital Fan Design
Chapter 5. Fans Between Categories: Boundary Work of Making Fan Art in the 3D Model Sharing Platform Sketchfab; Atanur Andic
Chapter 6. Fans, Followers, and Fabrications: The Psychology Behind Human Bonds with Virtual Influencers; Wolfgang J. Weitzl and Rene H. Kerschbaumer
Chapter 7. Crafting Our Own AI Companions: When Fans Blossom into Virtual Character Designers; Qing Xiao, Zilu Wang, and Hong Shen
Part 3. Making, Sharing and Selling
Chapter 8. Fans of Print: 'Implicit Fandom' in Independent Magazines; Sabina Fazli
Chapter 9. Rewatching, Reworking, Reselling: Iconocity and Fan Art around Aqui no hay quien viva; Roberto Huertas Gutierrez and Asier Gil Vazquez
Chapter 10. Designing Fan-Created Doctor Who Merchandise: Forms of Capital and Unlicensed Design Adventures in Capitalist Realism; Matt Hills
Part 4. Tourism and Urban Space
Chapter 11. Encounters by Design: Souq Waqif and the Spatial Life of the 2022 Qatar World Cup; Hamed Goharipour
Chapter 12. Staging the Magic in Harry Potter Tourism: The Interplay of Fan-Driven and Franchise-Regulated Heritage and Placemaking Practices in Denmark and the UK; Sofie Stobberup
Chapter 13. "We are going to leave the world better than we found it": Balancing Environmental Sustainability and Affective Engagement in Screen Tourism Locations; Bethan Jones
Part 5. Sustainability
Chapter 14. Fan Materiality and Meaning: Bringing Traditional Knowledge to Material Fandom Sustainability; Sejal Changede and Naomi Jacobs
Chapter 15. Game Changers: How Fan Activism Across Gaming Cultures Could Help Us Design More Sustainable Technologies; Violet Owen, Michael Stead, and Paul Coulton
Chapter 16. Sustainable Design: Creating Responsible Products and Services with Fans; Nicolle Lamerichs
Part 1. Affordances and Platforms
Chapter 2. Defying Gravity: Solving the "Wicked Problem" of Film Fandom in the Pre-Digital Age; Lies Lanckman
Chapter 3. We Remember K-pop: A Study on the Mutual Constitution of the VLIVE Livestreaming Platform; D. Rodriguez
Chapter 4. Creative Digital Practices to Support Sociopolitical Movements Online: The Case of BTS ARMY, BLM, and the #MatchAMillion Fundraiser; Christopher Housseaux
Part 2. Digital Fan Design
Chapter 5. Fans Between Categories: Boundary Work of Making Fan Art in the 3D Model Sharing Platform Sketchfab; Atanur Andic
Chapter 6. Fans, Followers, and Fabrications: The Psychology Behind Human Bonds with Virtual Influencers; Wolfgang J. Weitzl and Rene H. Kerschbaumer
Chapter 7. Crafting Our Own AI Companions: When Fans Blossom into Virtual Character Designers; Qing Xiao, Zilu Wang, and Hong Shen
Part 3. Making, Sharing and Selling
Chapter 8. Fans of Print: 'Implicit Fandom' in Independent Magazines; Sabina Fazli
Chapter 9. Rewatching, Reworking, Reselling: Iconocity and Fan Art around Aqui no hay quien viva; Roberto Huertas Gutierrez and Asier Gil Vazquez
Chapter 10. Designing Fan-Created Doctor Who Merchandise: Forms of Capital and Unlicensed Design Adventures in Capitalist Realism; Matt Hills
Part 4. Tourism and Urban Space
Chapter 11. Encounters by Design: Souq Waqif and the Spatial Life of the 2022 Qatar World Cup; Hamed Goharipour
Chapter 12. Staging the Magic in Harry Potter Tourism: The Interplay of Fan-Driven and Franchise-Regulated Heritage and Placemaking Practices in Denmark and the UK; Sofie Stobberup
Chapter 13. "We are going to leave the world better than we found it": Balancing Environmental Sustainability and Affective Engagement in Screen Tourism Locations; Bethan Jones
Part 5. Sustainability
Chapter 14. Fan Materiality and Meaning: Bringing Traditional Knowledge to Material Fandom Sustainability; Sejal Changede and Naomi Jacobs
Chapter 15. Game Changers: How Fan Activism Across Gaming Cultures Could Help Us Design More Sustainable Technologies; Violet Owen, Michael Stead, and Paul Coulton
Chapter 16. Sustainable Design: Creating Responsible Products and Services with Fans; Nicolle Lamerichs