چكيده لاتين
In today’s complex, ambiguous, volatile, and uncertain world, organizations face numerous challenges in maintaining their competitive advantage. One of the most important of these challenges is designing products that are not only applicable to today’s market needs but also functional for uncertain futures. The high failure rate of new products (approximately 80%) in the market itself attests to the fact that traditional approaches to product development are no longer effective, and the need for innovative and future-oriented solutions is felt more than ever.
A review of the research literature in the field of futuristic product development shows that many articles have presented this process as a “black box” and have not clearly specified the step-by-step details of the methods and tools used. This research gap reveals the necessity of providing a clear and systematic framework for integrating foresight methods and design thinking.
This research, aiming to fill this gap, designed and implemented an operational framework for developing futuristic products in the home appliance industry. The study was conducted in five main phases: In the data collection phase, using Snowa’s trend radar, trends, megatrends, and key disruptors of the home appliance industry were identified. In the preparation and initial analysis phase, trends were translated into understandable messages, and the causal relationships between them were analyzed, leading to the formation of four clusters on the themes of liberation, singularity (augmented reality), harmony with nature, and self-actualization (transpersonalization). For each cluster, micro-scenarios in the form of science fiction stories were developed to create a deeper understanding of future trends.
In the workshop design and preparation phase, an innovative strategic canvas with 12 stages was developed, including: Our Aspiration, Cluster of Elements, Semiotic Representations, the “What If?” Proposition, Future Wheel, Micro-scenario, Future Persona, Persona-Scenario Matching, Value Proposition, Product Storyboard, Product Description, and Wired Magazine Cover. In the implementation phase, design workshops were held using the strategic canvas, and all processes, discussions, and outputs were carefully recorded and documented. In the final analysis phase, the data collected from the workshops were analyzed, and the ideas of each group were reviewed and evaluated to identify innovative solutions for developing futuristic products.
To validate and implement the proposed framework, a case study was conducted in the Entekhab Industrial Group. This implementation took place in four main axes: the first axis included ten continuous meetings with the foresight team for planning and coordination; the second axis included four sessions introducing the concepts and methods with the presence of the design team of the Entekhab Industrial Group; the third axis included three intensive two-day workshops in the form of bootcamps; and the fourth axis included fifteen specialized sessions for analyzing and developing the results.
Three two-day workshops (totaling 50 hours) were held in the Kariz recreational-residential complex in Zarrinshahr, Isfahan. In these workshops, nine members of the Entekhab Industrial Group’s design team, who were selected based on a combination of qualitative assessments and quantitative creativity measurements (using three standardized questionnaires) and organized into three groups, participated. The workshops were divided into three main parts: trend analysis and understanding, future visualization, and product design. In each workshop, part of the 12-stage strategic canvas was implemented: stages 1 to 5 in the first workshop, stages 6 to 9 in the second workshop, and stages 10 to 12 in the third workshop.
