Abstract
“Wow. That can’t really be done. Can it?”
“Wow. That can’t really be done. Can it?”
As Designers, we know an essential part of our job is to constantly push past the boundaries of what is expected to illustrate how things could be. Its role in our methodology is to challenge conventional thinking in the pursuit of a more optimal way of doing things. Anyone can project along a linear path. It takes a special kind of talent to make a compelling argument for something that can’t easily be seen. And even more remarkable when it persuades. That’s no small feat.
Envisioning gives us a way to accomplish just that, particularly with holograms.
Not only does this method paint a vivid picture of future possibilities, it provides the perfect platform to pose hard questions, raise concerns, and push engineering to consider doing a lot more than initially expected. Done correctly, the holographic visions we create in the pursuit of that brighter future can be packed full of challenges to conventional thinking. We can design them to intentionally provoke discussion and debate without being overt or offensive. The future is a scary place to the complacent. Envisioned scenes give us a way to safely talk about things.
The real question for us as the conversation starts is when do we have the best chance of having these engaging exchanges with people?
We can only influence and deeply affect the teams and organizations we work with at particular times. Development cycles, school years, fiscal years, and the rhythm of the business dictate some natural times for these presentations and dialogues.
Envisioning Opportunities
The most effective times to utilize envisioning are spread evenly throughout the flow of our work. Each has its own advantage in terms of impact and timing. The common thread throughout these times is the need to pose questions and challenge assumptions. The outcome of doing that successfully is moving people off their positions in times of traditionally predictable behavior. Pushing ideas for holographic experiences forward in these situations is difficult, but entirely possible when you focus on key aspects and insights.
Knowing when to use envisioning is key to its effectiveness
Each of the four situations outlined here have their own strengths and appropriateness for particular goals. They can certainly be used in combination, but be careful to identify why you are using each of them for your audience – whether that’s your team or people you are evaluating the ideas with.
Let’s go through each of the four envisioning approaches and situations, so you can see when they are most effective in the process.
1. Early Exploration
INSIGHT TO LEVERAGE: Anything is possible at the beginning.
TIMING: Very early
LIMITS: Relatively unconstrained
You’ll find that people are most open to radical new ideas at the very beginning of cycles. There’s a feeling of optimism, excitement, and possibility that wasn’t present previously. The start of anything is a magical time for hopes and dreams. They are spoken out loud for the first time. It’s the perfect time to spring into action and legitimately capture those ideals.
Articulated in compelling, impassioned pleas for something new, these explorations aren’t constrained by technology, schedule, or resources. They are in many cases the most pure expression of what the team wishes could be.
Holograms are exactly what you need them to be in this phase – malleable digital actors or surprisingly realistic objects of fascination. Anything is possible at the start, so use that to make your points. Tee up the most controversial issues to get them out into the open. This is your big chance, so don’t hold back. You’ll be glad you didn’t when finished.
For example, I have been doing data visualization for quite some time. I find it extremely frustrating to not have access to highly fluid data exploration tools when initially working with a data set. More time is spent setting up the interface to display the data “just so” than looking for insights.
What if I could somehow bypass the cumbersome interface completely and just jump right into exploring the data itself? That’s a nice thought, but using traditional toolsets isn’t going to get us anywhere close to that. Conversely, by using envisioning techniques we can depict that possibility as realistically as needed to start a conversation. It’s still too rough to be taken as a definitive path toward the desired outcome, but it’s right there for anyone to ponder.
Envisioning lets us ask questions like “What if we could explore data by being inside it?”
Another aspect of doing early explorations for mixed reality is the need to research and understand how physical environments affect people. How do they interact with them currently? How do existing physical objects and places succeed or fail in a similarly functional design space? Observing people in today’s scenarios is a great start here. Digging into the endless volumes of architecture, space planning, and wayfinding books is another excellent source of background research to help get you up-to-speed if that isn’t your background.
And finally, keep in mind just how much flexibility you have in coming up with compelling scenarios and executions in this initial exploratory period. Use those for all they’re worth in this phase to show people just how far we can go. Try to push the boundaries of what’s expected by doing some explorations that are ridiculous, even by your own standards. Be bold. Be unpredictable. Be free.
Always remember that holograms are constrained only by your imagination.
2. Vision Setting
INSIGHT TO LEVERAGE: We all want to shoot for the stars.
TIMING: Still early, right after initial explorations
LIMITS: Fairly constrained
Envisioning is generally considered “of the future” and can easily feel more inspirational than accurate. When used to push off in new directions of exploration (many of which are entirely aspirational) we don’t have to be completely realistic to the current capabilities of the platforms or tools that currently exist.
Showing the difficult, but plausible, aspects of a vision can really sell it
For example, in some of the aspirational vision work I’ve done there’s an underlying premise that anyone can see the holograms in open spaces because they have been publicly shared and the technology used to see them is prevalent and frequently used. None of that is true today, but that’s not the point. It illustrates a possible future we can all work toward, which makes this a shared vision. Holographic visions can help drive future behavior and investment.
Conversely, when setting the vision for a project (to inspire your team members and get everyone on the same page) it may be more advantageous to show your ideas more realistically, remaining true to existing capabilities and norms. This type of design is done to help people visualize something that has yet to be built, but makes it seem attainable without much issue. It’s meant as a blueprint of sorts rather than an aspirational suggestion. The real difference between this type of envisioning and a more fanciful treatment of the subject matter is that people can recognize its realistic nature and can connect the dots on how it comes to be.
Combining both realistic and futuristic aspects of ideas is my favorite way to work in this medium, as you’ll see throughout my examples. You can combine established practices and capabilities with significant improvements to take your audience where you need the story to go. That could mean pushing on the technology aspects of projects and platforms, or to setting new ideas forth to explore interaction and engagement possibilities.
Envisioning is what you need it to be, realistic or fanciful.
3. Challenging Norms
INSIGHT TO LEVERAGE: Being incremental gets us nowhere fast.
TIMING: Midpoint of the cycle
LIMITS: Relatively unconstrained
One of the most effective uses of envisioning is taking people out of their comfort zone. There’s something really powerful about getting people to a place where they can imagine a different path forward. That doesn’t come easy, though. Whether illustrating a promising new direction or shaking up the status quo, the most difficult job envisioning faces is helping to challenge well-entrenched positions and norms.
For example, when it comes to interaction standards people have almost violent reactions to any suggestion there’s another method that’s just as familiar or comfortable. It’s scary how deeply people dig in to defend prevailing methods when there are so many alternatives to consider. I’m not advocating change just for change sake, but let’s take the opportunity to understand what other ways of doing things offer. You never know. A promising experiment one day becomes a de facto standard the next. I mean really – did anyone set out to make the hamburger menu icon a web standard for mobile? No. It happened because someone experimented with it.
Why can’t we get better previews of conference sessions? And why not direct me there?
The best response to people dragging their dogmatic norms from the past into the holographic future is using envisioning and prototyping to illustrate the better, more authentic way forward. Holographic computing is wide open for innovation. We should do our best to take advantage of that rare opportunity whenever we can.
Don’t be different to be different. Be different to push us all ahead.
4. Leaping Ahead
INSIGHT TO LEVERAGE: True competitive advantage is not v.next.
TIMING: towards the end of the cycle
LIMITS: Unconstrained
This is my favorite type of envisioning by far. It relies on disconnecting from present day to embrace the distant future, and poses that golden question “What if?” without worrying about current feasibility. Its most powerful aspect for the Designer is the fearless leap into the unknown. Removing the constraint of today’s limitations gives us an entirely new palette to work with. Why bother doing something that’s just incrementally better than its predecessor with all that freedom? That’s just ridiculous, right?
True competitive advantage is not found right next door. It can only be spotted from the future.
Leaping ahead through envisioning transports us to where we wish we could be. It has limitless possibilities to influence and shape our thinking about today’s challenges, much like science fiction has done throughout the last century. Producing imagery, animations, or working code that takes us further than anyone thought possible given the prevailing technology or approach. It is transformational in situations where people feel boxed in and held back. It reignites the hope found at the outset of projects but often extinguished as time moves on and reality sets in. This type of activity is incredibly valuable just from that standpoint alone – returning the spark to our imaginations and pushing us to boldly fast forward to what’s five or ten versions out.
What would it really take to get real telepresence? It seems close, but just out of reach.
Leaping ahead through envisioning can illuminate a clear path to our most definitive competitive advantage. Exercises like envisioning help to crystalize why we set off on a given path in the first place. There are particular attributes in any product or service that hold the key to true differentiation and separation in the marketplace. Isolating and amplifying those through the visual magnification of envisioning is a great way to get people thinking about what it would take to get there.
Pushing Toward the Impossible
Entirely new approaches emerge as a result of the push toward the impossible, or at least the improbable. Fiction becomes fact (or at least plausible). Knowing when to use envisioning to persuade and influence is an important part of your journey to being an effective Designer.
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© 2017 Mike Pell
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Pell, M. (2017). When Should I Use Envisioning?. In: Envisioning Holograms. Apress, Berkeley, CA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-2749-7_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-2749-7_4
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Publisher Name: Apress, Berkeley, CA
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