[Pick the date]  [Edition 1, Volume 1]

VISUALIZATION

Visualization, in

combination with a clear

business strategy, can reduce

the typical fuzziness of front-

end innovation. It can close

the psychological gap

between future and present;

the future becomes more real

for purposes

of

innovation

in the

present.

Inspired

visualization

can be the

proverbial “one picture is

worth a thousand words.” It

can help to bridge a time gulf

of a thousand years or a travel

span in outer space of a

thousand light-years. For

practical purposes of

innovation, however, the

visualized future image

should have a reasonable

connection to the present in

terms of achievement

.Visualization generally

involves the perception of

needs and preferences across

a large population of potential

consumers, conditioned by

informed forecasts of

lifestyles and external living

conditions.

Visualization overlaps

with, but is not the same as,

several other management-

related concepts—vision and

associative marketing. Vision

refers to a broad, generally

long-term picture of company

mission and goals; it is not as

concrete as visualization.

Associative marketing is when

a company advertises a

product by tying it to a usually

vague image of a desirable

customer lifestyle (e.g., an

enjoyable vacation). Such

visualizations would not

generally be adequate for

specific innovative efforts in

product design.

A good visualization should

encompass both attractive

lifestyle images for consumers

and realizable technology

designs for innovators. The

relevant future context should

also be realistic in terms of

expected social-demographic,

economic and environmental

trends, including trends

toward sustainability. Many of

these trends are evolving in

an exponential fashion; future

visualizations therefore need

to be correspondingly

complex—even

“disruptive”—in scope.

Reinforcing this complexity is

the fact that forecasters often

Mary Mohamed

[THE QUOTE IS BOLD AND

DISTINCTIVE. THE GALLERIES

INCLUDE ITEMS THAT ARE

DESIGNED TO COORDINATE

WITH THE OVERALL LOOK OF

YOUR DOCUMENT]

[ T Y P E  T H E  C O M P A N Y  N A M E ]

disagree about the nature ,the

growth rate ,of future trends,

thus altering their potential

impact on innovation in the

present. Consumers’

visualizations of their lifestyle

needs are often based on

prior experience and

convenience and may conflict

with companies’ broad visions

of future trends in product

design.

CONCLUSION

The front end of innovation

does not have to be so fuzzy.

To innovate in the present,

start by—and collaborate

on—visualizing the future.

The more consumer lifestyle

detail, the better. Strong

visualizations can clarify and

reinforce the strategic vision

underlying an innovation

project.

