Future Visioning

Abstract

The leading question for designers to start-up a roadmapping process is: what is our future vision, because that vision establishes the destination for the roadmap. Before designing anything, it is important to discern its properties. Therefore, in this chapter we first take a deep-dive into the properties and definition of a future vision. - what it is and what it is not. After that, we elaborate on special kinds of future visions – ones that lead to inspirational artifacts like concept cars and concept kitchens. These are in particular designed for the future exploration of and communication about disruptive value innovations. In roadmapping, we consider such vision concept as the ultimate future vision – Then, we discuss the role of designers in taking the ‘creative lead’ in formulating the future vision for the organisation’s innovation strategy. On top of that we present a special case story of future visioning in design practice. Flavio Manzoni, Senior Vice President of Design at Ferrari shares his notions on taking inspiration from the future rather than building from the constraints and legacy of the past.