Imagining Otherwise: Narrative Design Lab

Imagining Otherwise: Narrative Design Lab

By Impact x Design

A participatory workshop exploring story as both craft and design practice

Date and time

Location

Resound NW

1532 Southwest Jefferson Street Portland, OR 97201

Good to know

Highlights

  • 1 hour 30 minutes
  • In person

Refund Policy

No refunds

About this event

Business • Design

Imagining Otherwise: Narrative Design Lab


The Narrative Design Lab invites participants to step into the creative mechanics of storytelling. Using frameworks from narrative design, speculative imagination, and design thinking, this 75-minute workshop explores how story structure, theme, and character choices shape meaning.

Through hands-on exercises, participants will analyze narrative patterns, test speculative frameworks, and prototype their own story experiments. Part learning lab, part creative jam, the session makes the tools of narrative visible, usable, and collaborative.


What to Expect

  • Explore frameworks for analyzing story structure, theme, and character
  • Experiment with short creative exercises to prototype new story ideas
  • Engage with peers in a collaborative, playful workshop space
  • Take home accessible tools for applying narrative design in your own work

This event is for:

  • Designers and creatives curious about narrative as a design tool
  • Artists and performers exploring speculative or experimental practice
  • Community organizers and changemakers interested in storytelling for social futures


Details

Date and Time: Sunday, Oct 19, 2025 • 4:15 - 5:30 PM • Doors will open directly following the Story in Motion: Performance as Prototype event

Location: Resound NW (Downtown Portland)


✨ About Us

Agency for Speculative Futures

A civic imagination lab treating the future as a public work, blending design, storytelling, and systems change. We create experiences and invest in spaces where communities can rehearse and reimagine just, joyful futures

Impact x Design

A community of designers, strategists, and change-makers who believe design has the power to shape more equitable futures. We curate conversations, facilitate workshops, and resource projects exploring impact at the intersection of creativity and systems change.


💫 Related Events

Imagining Otherwise Mini-Series: Storytelling & Narrative Future(s)

The workshop follows the Story in Motion table reads (Oct 18–19) and is part of Imagining Otherwise: Storytelling & Narrative Future(s), a three-day exploration of performance and design as methods for cultural futures.


And be sure to check out the Radical Future(s) Fest (Oct 6 - Oct 8), a three-day celebration of design, systems, and belonging — with panels, showcases, and design jams imagining more just and joyful futures.

Explore these and more at the Agency for Speculative Futures hub.


Get ready to be inspired, share your ideas, and connect with others who are shaping what comes next

Organized by

Impact x Design

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Oct 19 · 4:00 PM PDT