THE FUTURE OF SPORTS
At Bespoke I worked on EU-founded projects concerning global urbanization, explored changes within the LatinX beauty industry, and investigated the future of sports – a project that aimed to shed light on changes within the industry and points of departure for future business strategies.
Scoping
The initial stage of any futures project is the scoping phase, in which observations of change within relevant areas surrounding the core topic are explored through open brainstorming and research until participants believe to have gathered enough points of departure for investigation. Within the futures of sports, we identified entertainment, health, social issues, fashion, and technology to be the main fields of interest.
Scanning & research
Based upon these points of departure, the task of cultural research is to explore and identify specific signals of change, through ethnographic methods and field research. These are put into the format of scan cards (as developed by Bespoke as part of their HORIZON software), which supports their use throughout the later stages of the process, as well as the dissemination of knowledge.
Examples include cards on gender within sports, technological advances challenging what sport even is, and questions of belonging brought up by communities such as hooligans and international fan clubs.
SensE-making
As soon as the collected insights are deemed to reflect enough of the changes that the core topic undergoes, they are clustered (online or on a large enough wall) in an effort of sense-making and the identification of patterns and insights of change. Now the emerged patterns can be either investigated further, or one can begin the process of scenario writing that speculates on how these patterns may look like in the future.
Examples of such insights are how sports have become a highly political topic that is now impossible to untie from activism; how our understanding of sports being tied to physical accomplishments is questioned; and how technological and digital experience of a sport if playing an increasing role as modern fans are scattered across the globe.
designing the outcome
Having identified patterns, and formulated verbal scenarios based on short texts guided by the question of What if … ? the right design for the deliverable is important. While, for the future of sports, such a deliverable was a keynote presentation, other projects required the design of an event, including brand, invitation, and space. Drawing on design skills such as graphic, editorial, spatial, and digital allowed me to ensure that the identified insights were made tangible, as to enable the client to design meaningful products, services, and strategies for the future.
LEARNINGS
The projects at Bespoke allowed me to deepen my interdisciplinary skillset as I was able to contribute through both my design experience, as well my knowledge of social science. Bringing these two disciplines together in an effort to make the future not only better but also tangible, is something that will from now on inform my what of working and thinking.