Elective Design Management Future Concept Lab Milan, 2012 Future Concept Lab Milan, 2012

Elective Design Elective Design ManagementManagement

Future Concept Lab Milan, 2012Future Concept Lab Milan, 2012

Future Concept Lab Expertise

Activity Introduction

Desk Analysis

Fieldwork

Design Thinking

MicroFraming

MacroFraming

Collective Imaginary

Genius Loci

Coolhunting

Cultsearching

4P development

Future Concept Lab

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Future Concept Lab is a research institute specialized in marketing and consumption trends. Over the last twenty-five years FCL has been carrying out extensive research in 25 countries around the world, gathering, monitoring and interpreting the trends in the public and domestic environment. FCL defines sector-related scenarios regarding new products, communication and distribution strategies, and offers consultancy and training services to major brands and institutions.FCL’s findings are result of intense research activities, including traditional and advanced in-house research methodologies, on-the-spot observation in 40 cities and interdisciplinary skills (sociology, anthropology, design).

Future Concept Lab Expertise

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Marketing is being transformed in Societing, that means market analysis converges into a global analysis of society.

The 4 P of classic marketing (product, price, place, promotion) they convert into the 4P of Societing: People, Places, Plans & Projects.

Since consumption is a part of the human experience and not the other way round, being in fine-tuning with people’s real life becomes a priority for decision makers, brands, designers…

IntroductionActivity

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Managers and companies should not remain detached from reality. Systematic, 360 degrees observation is a starting point for defining future strategies.

Professionals should experiment and integrate different methodologies in their projects without «renouncing» upon creative sensibility.

The elasticity of the mind is nowadays important for any type of professional activity, not only creative.


WORLDWIDE OBSERVATION

SOCIOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION

SOCIO-CULTURAL CONCEPT DEFINITION

STRATEGIC CONSULTANCY

MEDIA CONTENTANALYSIS

ETHNO-ANTHROPOLOGICAL

ANALYSISGENIUS LOCIAPPROACH

STREET & BODYSIGNALS

VISION MISSION

CREATIVEHYPOTHESIS

ADVANCEDTRAINING

BRANDARCHITECTURE

COMPANYPROJECTS

GLOBAL VALUES LOCAL BEHAVIOURS

MEGA TRENDS TRENDS

TARGETCHECK

CONCEPT TEST


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Introduction

Desk Analysis Depth & scope of trends

Collective ImaginaryGenius LociMacroFramingMicroFraming

FieldworkOn the spot observation

CoolhuntingCultsearching

Project Development Trends application

4P Development& Concepts

Activity

An epocal shift

Social Innovation and Design Thinking are the main drivers of change, implying some general statements:

People become creative enterprises

Technology supports new forms of sharing where individual and collective merge

Communication tools should ground consensus on trust and credibility

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An epocal shift

The 4 paradigms of change that FCL has detected all along its observation and research programs on future scenarios are:

Trust & Sharing

Quick & Deep

Crucial & Sustainable

Unique & Universal

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The Crucial & Sustainable paradigm supports:

The will to enhance the core values that really matter on a global scale

The need for a new ethic on sustainability

The want to improve those behaviours and thoughts that could help people to minimise their “negative” impact on the eco-system

The sensibility for a change based on the social awareness of environmental care as a global priority

Paradigm


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The two enabling forces that sustain the spread of the Crucial and Sustainable paradigm within the society and the market are:

Selectivity Sustainability

Paradigm

Their effects are strongly visible specially into the world of aesthetics (fashion, design, beauty), supporting a big cultural shift in these markets.

Quick & Deep

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Paradigm

The Quick & Deep paradigm supports:

The quest for simple products and services, able to meet people’s requests easily, effectively, and fast

The need of people that consumption could also be an occasion for improving their experience and acquire more information about products and services

The desire for a 24/7 service that never sleeps: happy occasions easy to get

Quick & Deep

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Paradigm

The two enabling forces that sustain the spread of the Quick and Deep paradigm within the society and the market are:

TimelinessHappiness

Their effects are strongly visible specially into the world of consumption (mass market behaviours) supporting a big cultural shift into the market.

Trust & Sharing

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Paradigm

The Trust & Sharing paradigm supports:

The encounter between consumers and companies and the renewal of loyalty and sharing

The breeding of a chain of values between producers and consumers and the trust between each others

The sharing of opinions and feelings

The enjoying of a common experience through products and services

The feeling that brands strengthen a common bond between producers and consumers

Trust & Sharing

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Paradigm

The two enabling forces that sustain the spread of the Trust and Sharing paradigm within the society and the market are:

Credibility Sharing

Their effects are strongly visible specially into the world of communication (media, advertising, brand loyalty) supporting a big cultural shift within this sector.

Unique & Universal

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Paradigm

The Unique and Universal paradigm supports:

The ending of the antinomy between global and local

The recognition of the unique value of local products, that become universal opportunities

The distinctive plus of the local origin of products

The open diffusion through the internet of a new retailing culture that multiply the chance for local products to reach the different markets

Unique & Universal

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Paradigm

The two enabling forces that sustain the spread of the Unique and Universal paradigm within the society and the market are:

Exception

Attractiveness

Their effects are strongly visible specially into the world of retail, supporting a big cultural shift on this sector.

Values

MacroFraming

MicroFraming

Coolhunting & Cultsearching

Design Thinking

10 YEARS

5 YEARS

PRESENT

FUTURE

15 YEARS


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Designers and Managers should be in fine tuning with people’s values and understand

what’s meaningful for them.

Monitoring transversal global values through

sociological imagination.

Desk Analysis

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The MindStyles Program is the result of a consistent monitoring of the cultural influences related to the collective imagination, based on an analysis of mass media contents and on the influence of opinion leaders on values, styles and taste. Anything from music to literature, art, fashion and design constitute the vital basis of our investigation. The output is an easy format report that gives concrete indications on future markets tastes. The Labyrinth of the MindStyles is divided into 12 Areas.

The concepts and trends of the imaginary that have fact gained universal and recognised importance, represent well-established values, that can represent poles of attraction for the future. The Collective Imaginary will help participants identify market priorities and create original concepts.

Desk Analysis

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Collective ImaginaryDesk Analysis

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Monitor the media expressions worldwide and interview the industry trendsetters.

Collect information about brands and brand values regarding products, communication…

Understand the relationship between the influence of the entrepreneurs and peoples’ life and values.

Underline those values that are globally recognized and trace their evolution in time.

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The roots of research on Collective Imaginary grounds in psychology: Jung’s archetypes (which regains the platonic intuition of the myth of the cavern), Charles Wright Mills’ Sociological Imagination (1959) and McLuhan’s analysis on media (his celebrated The Medium is the Message), mark the birth of new psychological and sociological disciplines that analyze advertising and communication, as in example Vance Packard’s The Hidden Persuaders and Roland Barthes’ Mythologies.

A radical synthesis was made in the 70s by Baudrillard in his theory of simulation (For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign and Symbolic Exchange and Death) that overcame marxism and structuralism, opening the way to the theoretical hypothesis of Lyotard (The Postmodern Condition: a Report on Knowledge).

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Collective Imaginary research has been therefore extended to fashion by Gilles Lipovetsky (L'ère du vide and L'Empire de l'éphémère), as well as applied on marketing and communication: Jacques Seguela (Le futur de l’avenir), Kevin Roberts (Lovemarks).

A brilliant analysis on the influence of collective imaginary on society was recently proposed by Rolf Jensen, The Dream Society, and Michel Maffesoli, Iconologies.

FCL books on Collective Imaginary.Controtendenze / ContratendenciasMetatendenzePrevisioni e Presentimenti

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MacroFraming

Designers and Managers should tackle themes of universal relevance

that represent society’s big changes.

Understanding the evolution of market sectors (design, food, wellness…) through

sociological interpretation.

Desk Analysis

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MacroFraming

Macrotrends, are those sociocultural phenomena that tackle themes of universal relevance that represent society’s big changes, often a sum-up of microtrends that grew relevant in time. Anything, from new forms of interaction, to the way people express themselves through shopping, travelling, eating, partying, and new products that in different market sectors that gained universal recognition in different countries, can convey those strong sensibilities that are highly visible, even if uncommon for many.

Macrotrends, or long term trends, embody strong insights that are already present in the market. Since Macrotrends evolve, MacroFraming is useful for tracing their evolution and their different expressions in the different market sectors. Becoming aware of the more stable trends in relation to those less visible allows us to anticipate the market changes in different sectors.

Desk Analysis

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MacroFramingDesk Analysis

Collect information regarding specific market sectors, such as retail, design, wellness, food. Delphi interviews can be useful.

Monitor constantly relevant publications, specialized magazines and market reports in relation to the different market sectors.

Identify a number of key case studies, successful or not.

Organize your materials and give interpretation of the impact between consumer behaviours and market dynamics.

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The founding fathers of sociology (from Comte to Marx, from Weber to Durkheim) analysed in the first place some social macro-trends. See in particular: Emile Durkheim, Essay on Suicide (1897), Pierre Bourdieu, Essay on Taste (1979).

Megatrends as catalysts of change have been pointed out in the work of the first American futurologists on the 70’s and 80’s: Alvin Toffler in 1970 proposes the Delphi methodology in his first book Future Shock; John Naisbitt in The Third Wave (1980) and Megatrends (1986) approaches the analysis of the contents of the media.

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On marketing and communication in the 90’s the work of Faith Popcorn (The Popcorn Report) was of great importance: her relevant background on advertising allowed her to incisively indicate trends that summarise values and behaviours.

The FCL books on MacroFraming:European AsymmetriesBody VisionsLiving Trends

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Desk Analysis MicroFraming

Designers and Managers should deal with emerging sensibilities in various sectors,

even if of a niche relevance.

Focusing on the dynamics of consumer behaviours through

ethno-anthropological analysis.

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MicroFraming

The media (newspapers, magazines, blogs) present eye-catching information and interesting facts on a daily basis. Nevertheless, the impact and analysis of this data is a difficult task for the untrained mind and eyes. Microtrends, niche phenomena regarding consumer behaviours, attitudes, styles and expressions, are growing at speed around us. Microtrends may often inspire and stimulate new ideas, but can be misleading without a constant and 360 ｰ degrees observation of the local and global realities.

MicroFraming is decisive for those who would like to become more aware about the details, aesthetic or behavioural, that surround us and to understand the relationship between the small-scale expressions of change and their influence (weak or strong) in the global market.

Desk Analysis

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MicroFramingDesk Analysis

Collect secondary data regarding peoples’ life, through newspapers, magazines, blogs…

Gather information about emerging phenomena in different contexts of daily life, such as work, leisure time, shopping etc.

Take notes on a diary for a specific period (a week, a month…).

Select the most important findings emerging from your constant desk analysis during that period.

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Theoretical references on the relevance on Microtrends date since the beginning of 19th century: in particular, Georg Simmel with his essay on Fashion (1905) and Thorstein Veblen on his Theory of the Leisure Class (1899).

Recently, many authors worked on the sociology of daily life, among others: Henri Lefebvre on Critique of everyday life; Situationists in France (with the famous Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord); Goffman and Schutz in the USA on symbolic interactionism.

In the last few years, of Mark Penn’s Microtrends and Henrik Vejlgaar’s Anatomy of a trend are strongly recommended you consult.

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On marketing - see Bernard Cova, Innover en marketing - and communication, a valuable approach has been defined as the economy of the unexpected and as non conventional marketing, that found in the explosion of events (during the 90’s), followed by the success of the temporary stores (from the middle of the following decade) as a true solid achievement.

The FCL books on MicroFraming:Real Fashion Trends Consum-Authors / Consum-Autori / Consumo Autoral

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Genius Loci

Designers and Managers should take into consideration cultural differences and

measure market compatibility of projects.

Identifying distinctive local characteristics through

socio-cultural analysis.

Desk Analysis

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Genius Loci

Future Concept Lab has developed the Genius Loci Program, a research that analyses the cultural characteristics and the consumption patterns in 25 Countries around the world in order to interpret the globalization phenomena in cultural and commercial level. A task force of experts dedicate themselves full-time to the elaboration profiles for each of the countries under observation, underlining the uniqueness and character of each country and market. The Institute has been carrying out research all around the world and has presented the findings of this Program in various Universities, Institutions and Companies.

The Genius Loci program helps understanding the differences between several countries and will introduce different expertise and know-how, case studies and brands, that are well-rooted in specific territories.

ArgentinaAustraliaAustriaBelgiumBrazilCanadaChinaColombiaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceIndiaIsraelItalyJapanKorea PortugalRussiaSpainThailandThe NetherlandsTurkeyUKUnited States

Desk Analysis

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Genius LociDesk Analysis

Chose relevant characteristics, cultural traditions and behaviours, well-rooted in country of preference.

Describe any products, expertise or processes distinctive of the specific country worldwide, because of uniqueness.

Compare your findings to the other countries/parts of the world. Do you notice any similarities or differences in behaviours, material culture, traditions?

Following your analysis create a map of compatible cultural patterns between one country and other contexts.

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The talent of places (genius loci) was celebrated on the first place by Norberg Schulz’s book on architecture titled Genius Loci. The great German sociologist Max Weber though, in his The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, highlighted the relevance of the genius loci for the understanding of cultural differences. On literature and philosophy, Baudelaire’s “flaneur” and Walter Benjamin’s travel diaries stated that cities can be better understood when confronted each others.

Globalisation gave a strong impulse to the research on cultural differences : see works of Lewis (When cultures collide) and Gannon (Understanding global cultures), and most of all Samuel Huntigton’s The clash of Civilizations.

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Post-colonial Anthropology (Amselle, Bhabha, Appadurai, Clifford, Tomlinson) embrace an alternative point of view: according with these authors cultures are “incommensurable” and their crossbreeding is more spontaneous than schematic.

Relevant field research on cultural differences were carried out by Gert Hoffstede who monitored the weight and depth of some cultural universal values, mapping them onto axis that go from male/female influence up to the weight of autocratic/tolerant behaviours in the exercising of power.

FCL books on Genius Loci:La strategia del Colibrì / La estrategia del ColibrìItalian Ways / Estetiche Italiane Il senso dell'Italia

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Field work Coolhunting

Designers and Managers should stimulate their imagination with fragments of truth, and people’s daily activities in urban and

domestic contexts.

Observing people and places based on the

Coolhunting technique

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Coolhunting

The 50 correspondents of Future Concept Lab scattered in 40 different cities around the world, constitute a network of highly sensitive antennas gathering, deciphering and reporting the trends emitted by the observed cities. The report includes a variety of information regarding new products, photos of people, shops and new initiatives from various sectors and different targets.

London Los Angeles MadridMarseillesMiamiMilanMontrealMoscowNew YorkParis

AmsterdamAntwerpAthensBangaloreBangkokBarcelonaBeijingBerlinBilbaoBogotá

BolognaBombay Boston Buenos AiresBrusselsCannesHelsinkiHong Kong IstanbulLisbon

San FranciscoSan PaoloSan PetersburgSeoulShanghaiSidneyTel AvivTokyoValenciaVienna

Field work

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Coolhunting

The observation of people’s everyday life for understanding the dynamics of reality and anticipating the future, has always been the mission of Future Concept Lab, triggered by the desire to explore the material culture of different societies, going beyond a purely academic background.Future Concept Lab launched coolhunting in 1992 – the first institute in the world – as an innovative alternative to existing research methods. It was back then that Future Concept Lab started to hire young professionals and researchers around the world, who would be able to become those “highly sensible antennas” for understanding the on-going phenomena and change on a specific territory.

ShanghaiShanghai

Field work

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Coolhunting

Nowadays, our network of correspondents, 50 collaborators operating in 40 cities, allows us the constant monitoring of city trends, new venues and people’s daily life. The international observatory and network of correspondents, is set up of young professionals who carry out coolhunting and cultsearching research activities, has demonstrated to be increasingly useful and necessary, as an integration to the traditional research outcomes, that can be strengthen by data, interpretative hypothesis and creative thinking.

LondonLondon

Field work

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Coolhunting

It is in our view necessary to clarify and distinguish different professions and the different levels into which the coolhunter operates. In many cases this is not a proper profession but a personal interest that people develop quite rapidly. It is important to underline, however, that intuition and talent are not enough, and these sole factors do not make of a person a proper coolhunter.

Field work

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Coolhunting

Triggered by personal interest rather than based on specific skills or qualification, coolhunting risks belonging to one of the many appealing and bound-to-fashions research tools. In the past few years coolhunting gave rise to different by-products. Fashion magazines for example, in their search for eccentric news and scoops, hire people who can provide hot stories on new trends and spontaneous stories on lifestyles and street styles. Another form of recently flourished coohunting is that one called style blogs, rapidly developed after the success of The Sartorialist, now collaborator of the Condé Nast group.

Field work

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Coolhunting

For FCL the activity of coolhunting consist mostly of gathering and recording information, on how people dress, their cultural or consumption preferences, new city venues etc., by taking photos and notes. They usually do not interpret the impact of their findings on global and local level. FCL has in the past years experimented a more systematic way of practising coolhunting, offering to the deployed young researchers not only training on alternative ethnographic methodologies but also a strong theoretical background.

Field work

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Coolhunting

Coolhunters are young creative people, usually freelancers, gather and report all those interesting (cool) expressions emerging in the urban and domestic reality of a specific city, where they live and work, giving photographic and written evidence.

Which are the characteristics of a coolhunter?

Is a young professional, with academic training or working experience in fashion, design, architecture, communication, photography, journalism, web…)

Has good photography skills

Lives and works in the city of observation, not simply a visitor or a tourist

MilanMilan

Field work

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Coolhunting

Is always curious and updated about the new phenomenon, events and changes emerging in the city

Is searching for the unconventional signals emitted by the city, that is to say venues, shops, ideas, and occasions, which give evidence about the on-going transformation of people’s life in the specific city

Has a creative sensibility which allows him/her to spot and describe the people and the life occasions of the city of observation. His/her intuitive talent become skills thanks to indications, feedback and briefs made available by Future Concept Lab.

Field work

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Coolhunting

Coolhunting is neither a job-title, coined in the mid nineties, nor a new professional figure. It is rather a valuable method, if integrated with other systematic and consistent set of parallel research activities and design thinking ability, as proposed in the TrendsGymnasium training program.

The wide observation of local phenomena that can become global, how people dress, which are their cultural or consumption preferences, which are the new city venues will empower the participants’ ability of observing reality.

Buenos AiresBuenos Aires

Field work

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CoolhuntingField work

Before starting, plan your on-the-spot observation by choosing the parts of the city you would like to focus on and by getting hold of a photo camera and notebook.

When practising coolhunting, you should take pictures of people styles and attitudes, but also notes of what you perceive beyond the surface.

Group your observations by illustrating and describing the most original phenomena spotted and by making a list of your insights, according to your personal passion and interests.

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The activity of cool-hunting as it is known today was born at the start of the 1990’s and Future Concept Lab was the first institute in the world to launch back in 1994, the Street Signals research program with correspondents in 5 cities around the world (Milan, Paris, London, New York and Tokyo) that on a permanent basis monitored fashion, consumption and retail trends through an ethno-anthropologic observation, photographic and video techniques.

The theoretical basis of this activity dips its roots into Anglo-Saxon sociology linked to the analysis and interpretation of the youth subcultures. Dick Hebdige’s Subculture:the Meaning of Style at the end of the 70s gave theoretical dignity to languages of youth clothing.

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In 1994 the the exhibition Streetstyle held at the Victoria and Albert Museum gave mediatic relevance the coolhunting. The exhibition catalogue was realised by Ted Polhemus, followed in 1996 by his book Style Surfing.

In the 90s the analysis extended from youth culture extends to other generations: Dress Codes by Ruth P. Rubinstein, Street Trends by Janine Lopiano-Misdom and Joanne de Luca. In recent years other publications have been dedicated to the subject including Coolhunting by Peter Gloor and Scott Cooper.

FCL books on Coolhunting:Fashion Subway, Modo, 1998Real Fashion Trends, Scheiwiller, 2007Consum-Authors, Scheiwiller, 2008

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Cultsearching

Designers and Managers should observe local material culture in order to enrich the

interpretation of findings.

Scouting products, venues, opinions based on

interdisciplinary research techniques.

Field work

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Cultsearching

Coolhunting is not enough for a complete research study that leads to innovative projects. People practising cultsearching activity are more experienced than coolhunters, are creative professionals but also young researchers who do not only gather information, but turn their findings, regarding new products but also entrepreneurial initiatives, into sociological insights. Cultsearchers are usually older and more experienced than the coolhunters, young researchers who do not only gather information, but have got an expertise to manage microtrends and macrotrends and give an interpretation to their findings.

Field work

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Cultsearching

Cultsearchers are:

More experienced and trained compared to coolhunters, with more effective methods to apply in their research

Search for expression of material culture in the observed city, “cult” objects, venues and places, either well- established or emerging

Observe what’s produced by the elite circles (avant-garde) in the city, and people or realities that can bring change thanks to their actions and projects.

MilanMilan

Field work

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Cultsearching

Hold a BA or MA degree and are working as professionals in the fields of design, fashion, architecture, journalism

Have the ability to filter and choose the research materials they collect, following specific criteria, thanks to their training and professional experience

Are capable of design thinking, ready to capture all the interesting signals of change emitted by the city and transform them into projects.

AmsterdamAmsterdam

Field work

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Cultsearching

Is constantly up-to-date with Future Concept Lab’s research activity and techniques. This is possible thanks to specific training workshops organized throughout the year and in this manner it is possible for cultsearchers to improve skills and be in contact with the Institute and the other correspondents of FCL network.

MoscowMoscow

Field work

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Cultsearching

Future Concept Lab has been developing methodical techniques for practising cultsearching, by integrating a number of diverse research methodologies, such as semiotic studies, anthropology, ethnography, design research, crossing over often the worlds of research, management and creativity. The cultsearching activity practised in TrendsGymnasium , through specific research briefs and suggestions, will help professionals enrich the interpretation of findings by the experimentation and integration of different methodologies for the identification of insights and opportunities in specific markets.

BarcelonaBarcelona

Field work

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CultsearchingField work

Collect information regarding a specific market sector, age group or life occasions in a specific city.

Identify those elite circles, where you would like to carry out the on-the-spot observation.

Scout for innovative products, ideas and behaviours, illustrate them through photos, explain the reason why of your choices and collect any additional material (flyers, leaflets, brochures) that can support the overall research.

Give your interpretation of the current market trends, in terms of products or services, based on your findings.

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Cult-searching is research methodology launched world wide in 1999 by Future Concept Lab in order to highlight the difference between coolhunting and cultsearching as ethno-anthropological research techniques which aims and results are focused on different aspects of reality.

The cult searchers distinguish themselves from the cool-hunters for their ongoing research experience on the territory, which permits them not only to observe the trend phenomena, but also to contextualise and interpret them.

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A complete description of the characteristics of this activity, and of its differences compared with cool-hunting, is found in the final chapter of the FCL book Real Fashion Trends, Scheiwiller, 2008.

The results of cult searching emerge particularly well in the three concepts (the Snap Shoe, the Bio Shoe, the Active Shoe) described in the FCL Book Real Footwear Trends.

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4P DevelopmentDesign Thinking

Designers and Managers should work on hypothesis that reflect society

in order to generate creative projects for the future.

Developing new scenarios based on the interrelation between People, Places, Plans

and Projects and their creative interpretation.

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4P Development

BerlinBerlin

Change is evident at different levels. One one side, Macrotrends, Microtrends, local and global trends become strategic tools for understanding market evolution, on the other, Coolhunting and Cultsearching are new ways to empower one’s ability of observing reality and gathering information. The Institute has been implementing integrated research projects based on specific methodologies that lead to the definition of sector-related scenarios, through consultancy and training services, in order to enable its clients to effectively deal with both advanced and emerging markets.

Design Thinking

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4P Development

But in order to turn insights and learnings into projects, it is important not only inspiration that often arises from interdisciplinary fields of knowledge, but also specific project development techniques.Professionals working on innovation can generate creative projects for the future and develop hypothesis that reflect society, by using the 4P development model, a valuable method employed for the definition of a great deal of corporate strategies and scenarios for products, communication and distribution.

Design Thinking

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4P Development

The 4P methodology can be a simple but effective way of triggering creative thinking, starting from the focus on:

Plans, identification and description of significant trend/s related to people’s life in the private or public sector.

People, identification of ideal target, end users and unique characteristics.

Projects, reasoning on different business sectors, brands and success cases that can inspire one’s project.

Places, identification of ideal market, city, country or site and related distinctive aspects.

Design Thinking

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Identify and describe a significant trend related to people’s life, in the private or public sector, emerging from desk and field analysis.

Imagine you are an entrepreneur and trace a company/ brand philosophy according to your priorities and research findings.

Use your observations and findings in a creative way in order to develop new business hypothesis.

Propose innovative products, services, initiatives that may fulfill the future market expectations.

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Project and Design Thinking stand at the basis of the 4P’s methodology. The transformation of the 4 P’s of Marketing (product, price, place and promotion) into the 4 P’s of Societing (people, place, plans, projects) proposed by Future Concept Lab since 2000 is explained in the final chapter of the FCL book European Asymmetries, Scheiwiller, 2002.

Useful books on this area are all those publications dedicated to to consult books dedicated to design thinking, like Donald A. Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things, Edward de Bono’s books on lateral thinking. Research books dedicated to successful products and corporate creativity like Vision of the future, published in 1996 by Philips, outcome of the innovative experience of the Philips Design Centre that Future Concept Lab leaded since 1997 providing the conceptual frame for the development of their new products.

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Other publications linked to 4Ps methodology to which FCL took part are: Alessi La Fabbrica Estetica (The aesthetics Factory) 1992; Philips Television at the Cross-roads (1994), and City, People, Light (1997); Whirlpool Project F. Fabric Care Futures (2002) and In.Kitchen (2004); Veneta Cucine Living Kitchen (2008) and Veneta Cucine Personal Kitchen (2009).

FCL books on 4P’s methodology:I Boom, Lupetti, 1990 (Booms - successful companies and products in the 80’s, also published in Japanese edition)I Nuovi Boom, Sperling & Kupfer, 1993 (The New Boom: successful trends and products in the 90’s).

We also suggest the reading of The Tipping Point, Malcom Gladwell, Little, 2000.

Future Concept Lab | via Benedetto Marcello 4, 20124, Milano, Italy | [email protected] | www.futureconceptlab.com

Documents

Elective Design Management Future Concept Lab Milan, 2012 Future Concept Lab Milan, 2012