Mejia Sarmiento, J. R., & Simonse, W. L.

1. Challenge the future
Design of Vision Concepts to explore the
future: nature, context and design
techniques
Ricardo Mejia (PhD candidate) & Lianne Simonse (assistant professor)
PhD promotors: Prof. dr. P.J. Stappers & Prof. dr. H.J. Hultink,
and daily supervisor: Dr. G. Pasman.
Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering
Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
5th CIM Community Workshop / 2015

2. Challenge the future
Content
Theoretical Background
• Sharing product vision
• Designing the future (concept cars, concept products, vision concepts)
Research questions
Method
• Qualitative inductive research
• Video documentation
Results
• The nature of Vision Concepts
• Sharing context in concept visioning
• Design techniques for concept visioning
Discussion
• Theoretical contribution
• Limitation and future research directions
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Constant dilemma
exploiting old ideas exploring new ideas
(Schreyogg and Kliesch-Eberl (2007) & Cornella (2013))
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Design and the future
• Design is closely linked with the exploration of the future (Buijs, 1987;
Morello, 2000; Evans, 2011; Hekkert, Van Dijk, and Lloyd, 2011)
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Concept Cars as a way to explore the future
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Rs P.: Although concept cars are in the automotive industry since 1938,
only a few scholars have studied them (Styhre, Backman, and Börjesson, 2005;
Backman and Börjesson, 2006; Backman, Börjesson, and Setterberg, 2007; and Buijs, 2012)
Concept Cars are “experimental artefacts” (Styhre, Backman, & Börjesson, 2005)
made by car manufacturers in order to explore the future.

6. Challenge the future
Concept Products a Concept Car in other branches of the
industry
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Concept Products are located outside the ordinary product portfolio,
and should express a certain competence within the company’ (Ny, & Thott,
2005).
Rs P.: CPs are emerging but a little is known about them

7. Challenge the future
Vision Concepts
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Different kind of Concept Products (Keinonen, & Takala, 2010):
(i) product -development- concepts,
(ii) emerging concepts, and
(iii) vision concepts

8. Challenge the future
Sharing context in product visioning
• a vision is described as “conditions as we would like them to be”
(Stokes, 1991)
• research results determined that product visions exert a large
influence on a new product´s success (Lynn and Akgun, 2001; O´Connor and
Veryzer 2001; and Reid and Brentani, 2012)
Rs P.: Lack of underestanding in sharing in product visioning
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9. Challenge the future
Design techniques of concept visioning
• e.g. Vision in Product (VIP)
approach (Hekkert, Van Dijk, and
Lloyd, 2011)
Rs. P. : It is not clear if the
design process is a simplified
NPD process (Styhre, Backman, &
Börjesson, 2005) or it is a specific
and unique process (Berlitz & Huhn,
2005; Lv & Lu, 2012; and Santamala, 2006)
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10. Challenge the future
Research questions
Therefore, in this paper we investigate the following research questions:
• What is the nature of a vision concept?
• How is the vision concept shared in the organization context?
• How is a vision concept designed - design technique?
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11. Challenge the future
Method
• A qualitative inductive research (Eisenhardt, 1989) to unravel the
nature, sharing context and design techniques of the vision concepts
• A multiple case analysis that includes 5 cases, 3 concept cars and 2
concept products
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Your Concept Car 2004 by Volvo
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Citröen-Lacoste 2010 by Citröen and Lacoste
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F015 2015 by Mercedes-Benz
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Concept Kitchen 2025 by IKEA
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Bio-digester Kitchen Island at Microbial Home 2011 by Philips
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Method / video analysis
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Results / The nature of vision concepts, sharing context
and design techniques for concept visioning
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Vision concepts are tangible prototypes used by organizations to explore
and present new ideas of the interplay between -system of- products and
users in the future.
• The 3 concept cars are presented as vehicles (artifacts), different that
the concept products that are presented as systems of products.
• e.g. "CCs funtion as a test bed for new ideas" Volvo
• All of the vision concepts are deployed as prototypes, 1:1 models that
present the main features of the concept.
• representational, which are non functional prototypes, and
• fully working prototype (e.g. F015)
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The nature of vision concepts

20. Challenge the future
Vision concepts are outputs of research projects that explore -research-
questions
• e.g. how will we behave around food in 2025? (Ikea), how to enable
people to do what they want or need to do? (Mercedes Benz)
Vision concepts are part of a dedicated portfolio outside of the ordinary
portfolio
• e.g. Mercedes-Benz, F models (Concept Vehicles portfolio) established
in 1991
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The nature of vision concepts

21. Challenge the future
Sharing context in concept visioning
Vision concepts are shared in the organization context in three different
levels, in-company, team, and public.
• In-company sharing: Volvo, Ikea and Philips use the vision concept in
several internal workshops and presentations
• Public: all of the studied concept cars and concept kitchens are
demonstrated on an international event
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22. Challenge the future
Design techniques for concept visioning
The cases analysis results in the identification of five activities to design a
vision concept:
• the research project set-up,
• the future exploration,
• the vision concept design,
• the vision concept making, and
• the future message on the exhibition.
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Discussion / Theoretical contribution
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Discussion / Theoretical contribution
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Thanks!
Ricardo Mejia
J.R.MejiaSarmiento@tudelft.nl
&
Lianne Simons
L.W.L.Simonse@tudelft.nl
Delft University of Technology
The Netherlands
2015

26. Challenge the future 26