The Wonderful World of Make Believe

The ability to create compelling visions of the future lives within us all. To tap into it, we must find ways to shed our technology-focused lenses and look to the experiences people want to have. Projecting technological trends forward often results in visions that are humorously unimaginative. If we instead step into the wonderful world of make believe, we can create far more expansive and desirable visions of the future.

Do you remember playing "let's pretend" as a kid? A stick became a sword. Your friend became a princess. A bike became a horse. Children have an uncanny ability to suspend disbelief, transform objects, create narrative on the fly, and react emotionally to make-believe experiences. Immersing themselves in stories, children are able to see the world through different eyes. During a recent future visioning project at Adaptive Path, we were delighted to discover that these same skills still lie latent within us -- and sometimes it just takes an unexpected diversion to bring them out.

Equipping a recent project team with everything from wooden eggs to magic flowers, we sent small groups on a walk through San Francisco, instructing them to imagine these objects were the mobile devices of the future. In no time, participants were learning about restaurants through cardboard tubes, throwing photos to friends using frisbee-like coasters, and scanning the horizon for familiar faces using magnifying glasses. The concepts that emerged were rich and unexpected. More importantly, the activity forced us to think beyond "future features" towards experiences.

Beyond simply sharing about this activity at LIFT, I plan to leave participants with a way to try this on their own. Giving participants an odd-shaped object (e.g., silly putty or a coaster) I'll ask them to imagine for the rest of the day that it's a mobile device and to explore unique ways they might use it. I'll provide an email address where participants can capture their ideas and send them to Flickr via email or SMS, so we can all see what emerges as participants experience the world "Beyond the Browser" through make believe.