:: axis of uncertainties
A quadrant scheme with axes that represent main uncertainties was created to position the possible scenarios according to speculations over the trends. Reflecting over the 4 scenarios positioned in the quadrants, become easier to understand that the scenario that I classify as ideal would be exactly in the middle, that’s way called Balanced Scenario.

 

:: scenarios
The full content of this scenarios as well the considered uncertainties are available in the Thesis paper pdf. Here is just the part that speculates in how the mobile.seed would be accepted according to different predominant ideologies.

I Love Myself


Inhabitants live in perfection bubbles, while the world perishes.

The Mobile.seed was a success because it was marketed as a personal attitude that would make the world more beautiful and pleasant. After its introduction many other mass products followed this idea of personal connection with the nature and some even tried to associate themselves as a kind of ‘purification’ from the super saturated and accelerated world. Flowers and other plants become disputed brand icons. But companies don’t embrace so much the idea of biodegradable products and they are still toxic and high demanding of not renewable resources.

 

 

We are nature


People live in communities integrated with nature.

The Mobile.seed was a big success and became a milestone in the introduction of products as partners in the building of an environmental and economical sustainable society. Flowers become disputed brand icons, and some new business models appeared, mixing technology and gardening for example. After its introduction many companies started to incorporate this mindset in their mass products, using biodegradable products as long possible and providing to the consumer the motivation (or gratification) to engage in the process of closing products’ life-cycle.

 

We are online

Everybody is connected, and filtered information comes mainly from individual devices.

The Mobile.seed was a short fashion product for few niches beyond the obvious green consumers. Even with a good advertising effort, the idea of wait a plant to sprout and grow was too much time demanding and many people got frustrated because their plants died due no watering. Even the collective benefits were difficult to grab due to not immediate feedback.

 

We are a Display


People buy ready made ideologies, and brand display become the main evaluation criteria.

the Mobile.seed was never released in the market. Research about biopolymers couldn’t reach an enough level of development due to small investment. Products that would require a kind of process or with not immediate feedback would never succeed in the mass market, even if they would show off in public.

 

:: the balanced scenario
Not surprisingly, none of the previous scenarios is the scenario that this thesis project would like to see become true, mainly because they represent a way of development pushed to an extreme positioning.

Individuality and communitarian behavior are balanced. Diversity and not mediated experiences are valorized.

A human being has all the sides, the good and the bad, the serious and the playful, the stupid and the smart, the individualist and the social, the peaceful and the violent, etc., and to respect men and also nature is about to respect how the things are, without negating these characteristics, and learn how to deal with them.

I see the mobile.seed as an example of how could be this equilibrium, based in our present context, or at least a product that is in an intermediate stage between now and towards this state. Equilibrated design would merge functionality and purposeless play. Modernism and Post-Modernism. Merge beauty and strangeness, fast and slow, erudite and vernacular, complete and incomplete, the familiar and the alien, freedom and ethic. Off course, not necessarily all at once.

People will not accept return in time and loose the acquired benefits. And this makes a lot of sense. And it is also not effective to make people feel guilty or just provide information. We must look forward and find ways to equilibrate human quality of life and diversity, technology development, business profit and preservation of environment. Achieve this aim depends on many factors happening simultaneously to become true. Design has a role in this path, and responsible designers must be aware of this influence. This view should be embodied in the products and services paradigm.