Author: Brandon Knap

I’ve learned over the years, when attending design conferences like MidwestUX, it is incredibly important to have an open and abstract mindset. I always try to load up with conceptual ammo I can interpret and work into our team’s process post-conference.

This year I was introduced to a few terms that really got me thinking—the adjacent possible, speculative design and backcasting. These three concepts all revolve around designing for the future, casting a vision and working towards a desired state. The more time I spent thinking about and researching each of these the more I saw how they could be remixed into an interesting thought framework. But before we get too far, let’s take a moment and define these concepts.

The Adjacent Possible is a term rooted in biology proposed by theoretical biologist Stuart A. Kauffman in the article, The Adjacent Possible but is elegantly abstracted and summarized in context of innovation by Steven Johnson in the article, The Genius of the Tinkerer. I heard this term for the first time at MWUX while listening to Jesse James Garrett—an absolute rock star in the UX world.

The adjacent possible captures both the limits and the creative potential of change and innovation… The adjacent possible is a kind of shadow future, hovering on the edges of the present state of things, a map of all the ways in which the present can reinvent itself. — Steven Johnson

Speculative Design is work that uses design (products, services, scenarios) to address challenges and opportunities of the future. We tend to look 5-10+ years forward and speculate on how things could be and what future we want or don’t want based on these scenarios.’ – Phil Balagtas, MWUX presenter and Experience Design Director. Read more by Phil on speculative design here.

Backcasting is a process where participants propose a future event or situation and then work backward to construct a plausible causal chain leading from here to there. This process is best used during problem framing. Learn more about backcasting at Design Research Techniques.

Creating a Thought Framework to Influence the Adjacent Possible

Now that we’re defined the adjacent possible, speculative design, and backcasting let’s combine these concepts and techniques to create a thought framework we can use to influence the adjacent possible. Wait, what does that really mean? 

Influencing the adjacent possible means envisioning a desired state, finding all the potential ways to get there from the current state, then putting forth actions to elevate the plausibility of reaching the desired state. — Brandon Knap

Here is a possibility map that combines the scope of speculative design with a goal-oriented adjacent possible. To use this map, we set the problem as the current state and we set the best possible solution as the desired state. We then plot all the potential moments required to reach the desired state or solution. A moment could be thought of as a tactic such as improving brand messaging, redesigning the website, hiring a marketing strategist, and so on. Moments positioned closer to the probable line are easy to accomplish while moments placed closer to the possible line require more effort and may be riskier.

With all the moments plotted between the current and desired state, it is now time to create plausible storylines. A storyline could be technology, brand, customer experience, marketing, etc. Each storyline is a string of related moments that logically backcast from the desired state to the current state. By breaking down the problem into small storylines we’ve created micro-goals that elevate the plausibility of reaching the desired state.

With the storylines in place, the problem now has clear paths towards reaching the desired state located in the adjacent possible. Now, every time a moment is achieved we have successfully and purposefully influenced the adjacent possible!

Putting It Into Practice

There are many different applications this thought framework can be applied to. It can help facilitate conversation around business & brand goals, strategy sessions for new products, even personal goals. The sky is the limit. Here are a couple basic scenarios that could be applied to the Adjacent Possible Framework.

Closing Thoughts — Never Stop Tinkering and Exploring

This Adjacent Possible Thought Framework is a modest attempt at thought leadership and a nod towards brilliant thought leaders—Jesse James Garrett, Phil Balagtas, Stuart A. Kauffman, Steven Johnson and many others pushing the bounds of thought and design.

Never stop tinkering and exploring, this expands your adjacent possible and creates more diverse opportunities to innovate.

‘The Queen City,’ ‘The Queen of the West,’ ‘The Blue Chip City,’ ‘The City of Seven Hills, and ‘Cincy,’ you guessed it, Cincinnati was the host of this year’s MidwestUX Conference (MWUX). This is the third year the CQL design team has had the opportunity and privilege to attend the Conference—and boy was it a good one. Here is a little bit about the conference, why our team gets pumped every year to attend and some of the shenanigans that tend to happen along the way.

More than a Conference — Camaraderie and Connection

Every year our team looks forward to soaking in the amazing content MWUX has to offer—user research techniques, cultural awareness, A/B testing methods, and much more. Beyond inspiration, what we really get out of the conference is camaraderie and connection within our team. Throughout the year, we strive to keep design conversations going, introduce new ideas, and learn from one another. This is not always as easy as it seems. As designers, we immerse ourselves in our customer’s projects to understand their needs and feel their pain points so we can create meaningful solutions. As we ramp up on projects, we occasionally find ourselves in silos as everyone heavily engages in their projects.

MidwestUX is our opportunity to step outside our daily commitments to our customers, and celebrate what we love in design.

Experiencing MWUX Cincinnati 2017

Dresses, suits, and rainbow fountains. To kick off our weekend of creative rejuvenation, we decided to have a fancy night out. We do not just design good-looking interfaces we clean up well too!

Hello Blink Cincinnati. Between conference activities, we noticed there was definitely something happening within the city—lights and attractions filled the streets, parks, and buildings. Cincy’s annual Blink Festival was ramping up. Here is just a glimpse of what Micaela and Abby came across in a nearby park—a luminaria by the Architects of Air.

Crashing the stage. Day Two started with Laura and myself crashing the stage for the opening keynote. This was actually part of an initiative called #upfront. Upfront allows aspiring speakers to sign up to sit on stage while a speaker presents. This allows participants to get the feel of the stage without the pressure of presenting. What an experience this was. The initial walk onto stage and introductions were definitely the most intense. Everyone could see us, we could see them, we were being introduced by name, there was no hiding. Ten minutes in, we were able to relax and actually enjoy the rest of the 50-minute experience. #upfront was a big step forward in the quest for public speaking prowess.

UX is coming of age — what we are seeing. Over the years, topics at the conference have shifted and evolved alongside the industry. We have seen earlier conferences revolve around user research and prototyping shift to storytelling and solving wicked problems. Now we are seeing more emphasis on culture, empathy, and responsible design.

Themes this year. This year, like others, have a few underlying themes woven throughout the messages. This year we noticed themes around empathy, collaboration, AI, responsible design, and user testing.

Designers more than ever need to own the platform for keeping humans at the center of technology and focus on empathy to create culturally responsible solutions.

This was just a glimpse of what we soaked in this year.