Presentation Concept Cars as a design-led futures technique

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CONCEPT CARS AS A DESIGN-LEDFUTURES TECHNIQUE

by

Ricardo Mejia Sarmiento, Erik Jan Hultink, Gert Pasman, and Pieter Jan Stappers

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CONTENT

1. Futures Studies techniques (situation & complication)

2. The Design-led Futures techniques (opportunity)

3. The study (methods)

4. Our claims (discussion)

5. Take away message

Q&A

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Innovation forces organizations to thinkabout the future, which is far from easy.

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Because they need to be aware of the changes in

- the business environment- the behaviors of customers, competitors,

and suppliers.

(Van der Duin, 2006)

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FUTURES STUDIES

The techniques guiding those explorations are named futures studies, which

Hines (2016) describes as modes of thinking, mapping and influencing the

future.

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Making plans and communicatingthose plans

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Learning from this experience

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Identifying opportunities and risks

These techniques help companies

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MAPPING FUTURES STUDIES TECHNIQUES

We used the Three Approaches to MakingDecisions by Mintzberg & Westley (2001) to mapthe Futures Studies.

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MAPPING FUTURESSTUDIES TECHNIQUES

● Thinking first, which is a verbal approach thatrelies on facts.

● Seeing first that is visual and based on ideas.● Doing first, which is visceral and based on

experiences.

THREE APPROACHES TO MAKING DECISIONS(Mintzberg & Westley, 2001)

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MAPPING FUTURESSTUDIES TECHNIQUES

From short-term (in the small circle) to long-term(in the large circle).

TIME-HORIZONS(Eisenhart & Brown, 1997)

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MANAGERIALFUTURES STUDIES

They are thinking first -verbal- approaches thatrelies on facts.

MANAGERIAL FUTURES TECHNIQUES

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e.g. TECHNOLOGYROADMAPING

Technology road-mapping is “a process to think andanalyze the market, product, and technology conditions [to]elaborate on a plan” (Simonse, Buijs and Hultink, 2015).

Albright and Kappel (2003)

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e.g. FUTURESCENARIOS

Future Scenarios are “scenarios that describe consistentand plausible futures for the company” (Van Notten,2006).

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However, managerialtechniques have some limitations- Top-down processes

- Involve only top-managers

- Resource and time-consuming

- Complex and abstract outcomes

- Difficult to communicate andimplement

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DESIGN-LEDFUTURES STUDIES

- Intuitive and action oriented.

- Have a strong emphasis on communication.

- Integrate the Three approaches to makingdecisions (Sanders & Stappers, 2012).

DESIGN-LED FUTURES TECHNIQUES

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e.g. DESIGNFICTIONS

Design Fictions is a technique to develop “micro futures-studies [that focus] on the everyday life, its short-termevolutions, and the standard objects or services that mightfill these possible futures” (Girardin, 2015)

Superflux (2014)

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e.g. CONCEPTCARS

This Concept Car was defined as “the first car built by amass manufacturer for the sole purpose of determining thepublic's reaction to the new ideas” (Edsall, 2003).

It turned the company from an engineering-oriented organization into a design-oriented one.

Buick Y-Job, designed in 1938 by Harley Earl.

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Although Concept Cars are broadly recognizedas an interesting phenomenon, little academicwork has been conducted on them.

Innovation Management &

Futures Studies

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CONCEPT CARS ASBRANDING EXERCISES

- Concept Cars create a brand identity within thecompany, and outside they enhance the brandimage (Roscam Abbing, 2010).

- Concept Cars present and visualize thecompany’s visions of future design and technologytrends (Backman and Börjesson, 2006).

- Concept Cars establish coherent and unifieddesign outputs of the different ideas and productslines (Evans, 2011).

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CONCEPT CARS, THEDESIGN PROCESS

- The process of designing a Concept Car is muchshorter that a commercial car (Berlitz and Huhn,2005).

- It focuses on communication. The companypresents the Concept Car at a motor show to themedia: newspapers, TV, and radio (Lv & Lu, 2012),experts and customers (Berlitz & Huhn, 2005),and the general public.

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This paper aims to add to the literature onInnovation Management by uncovering thekey features that distinguish Concept Cars asa futures technique.

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SAY

Te n s e m i - s t r u c t u r e dinterviews with experts in-automotive- design.

Purpose, Outcomes, andProcess.

MIXED METHOD

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DO

Observations at the 85thInternational Motor-Showand Accessories in Geneva.

Outcomes.

MIXED METHOD

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MIXED METHOD

MAKE

A multiple-case analysis tocompare three prototypicalexamples of the differenttypes of Concept Cars.

Purpose, Outcomes, andProcess.

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Your Concept Car by Volvo, 2004

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Citröen-Lacoste Concept Car by Citröen and Lacoste, 2010

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Mercedes-Benz F 015 Luxury in Motion by Daimler AG, 2015

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DISCUSSION

More than beautiful show cars, Concept Cars are used to study, map, and envision -animage of- the future.

This vision moves from the future back to the present and supports companies* inmaking decisions and mapping innovation.

* Automotive manufacturersSuppliers

Car design agencies

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DISCUSSION

Managerial futures techniques are confidential maps for the future of innovation,which follow a thinking-first process and end in abstract outcome that targets

specialized audience…

&

Concept Cars

focus on (1) innovation and communication,

following (2) a design-led process

and ending in (3) an open, striking and experienceable outcome.

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INNOVATION

Concept Cars increase the innovation capabilities:

- Companies foresee the future exploring a plausibleand preferable future.

- Companies experiment with technologies and exploredesign languages.

COMMUNICATION

- Companies share a concrete image of the future that iseasy to understand for a broad audience*.

- Stimulates conversations that generate ideas aboutthe company’s future at different levels**.

- Different people, inside and outside the company,align their agendas.

*Internal (workers, & suppliers) &

External (media & general public).

**Company’s strategy, its products, etc.

Concept Cars focus on innovation & communication

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A hands-on technique that embrace thinking, seeing, anddoing approaches to making decisions.

- [Research] Designers investigate and analyze contextfactors.

- [Visual synthesis] Designers make sketches andillustrations to produce ideas about the concept and the

context.

- [Prototyping] Designers make prototypes at differentscales and resolutions, sharing the idea with others.

- [Storytelling] Designers create a narrative tocommunicate the artifact through videos and other

materials.

All these activities are necessary to experimentsimultaneously with technology and styling.

Concept Cars follow a design-led process

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CONCEPT CARS & ALTERNATIVE FUTURES

THE FUTURE CONE ADAPTED BY VOROS (2001) FROM HENCHEY (1978)

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SHORT-TERM CONCEPT CARS

Are made to announce and incorporate modifications into specific commercialvehicles, which are launched one year after the concepts are presented. The conceptsexamine probable futures, extrapolating the current trends and knowledge into a newcar model.

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MEDIUM-TERM CONCEPT CARS

Are designed to inspire the addition of new categories of automobiles, which could bedeveloped between five to ten years after the concepts are presented. These conceptspush the boundaries between the probable and the plausible future, incorporatingcurrent knowledge and present and new trends.

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LONG-TERM CONCEPT CARS (VISION CONCEPTS)

Are produced to experiment with cars that are built from scratch, exploring at leastfifteen years ahead. These concepts propose new styling, ahead from the lines of thecurrent production vehicles, and investigate novel technologies, even some of themthat are not necessarily proved. They are linked to the preferable future. It is selectedbased on the values of the brand and its strategic projections.

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CONCEPT CARSAS OUTCOMES

Concept Cars are “tangible and materialized futures” thatare easy to understand for the majority of people.

The artifacts are embodied by:

- Full-size prototypes that enable people to experiencethe car as real as possible.

- Supporting materials (texts, visuals, and videos) thatpresent the interaction between users and the car in a

-future- contexts.

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CONCEPT CARSAS OUTCOMES

These -physical and narrative- manifestations of a fake-futuristic- vehicle, are designed to attract and evoke

emotions in diverse people.

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CONCEPT CARSLIMITATIONS

It is a resource intensive technique

(team, money, and time).

It presents a singular outcome,

hiding the opportunities offered by

other futures.

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TAKE AWAY MESSAGE

Innovation managers can use

Concept Cars as an alternative futures technique or as a ‘vehicle’ to complement other futures method.

Concept Cars can strengthen the innovation in diverse companies regardless of whether they are in otherbranches of the industry or whether they are in B2B or B2C businesses.

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- It is a design-led futures technique that incorporate visual synthesis, prototyping, and storytelling.

- It ends in a concrete artifact presented as a tangible future through physical and narrative manifestations.

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NEXT

We will further investigate their design process to explore the way to use

Concept Cars in other branches of the industry.

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THANKSRicardo Mejia Sarmiento

www.pktweb.com

J.R.MejiaSarmiento@tudelft.nl