All the Futures

In my twelve years worth of digital industry experience, I have fashioned a somewhat unfiltered view on the way things work behind screens. And with that I have constructed this larger-than-life vision in my mind where my professional contribution benefits Caribbean people.

In my practice I’m always eager to manage any kind of digital project as they come along. Digital anything promises something big, something boundless. I still get excited when a client brief — as simple as they often are — holds the possibility of transforming culture. And that is big work. Earlier on in my career it was important to find a more approachable method to tackling project: my mind often drifts with every thought and I can easily get carried away. Each idea is like a stepping stone. And with every imaginative step forward my #Position always changes; I am inspired to #Pivot in different directions; and then moved to #Push forward. Before I know it, I am light years away from where I initially started and have to reel myself back to that starting point. Take this exercise and repeat it several times and there you will find the rhythms of my mind: a radial pattern that extends in many directions.

I usually research the ways in which other creatives from around the world tackle their projects. And the inspiration that spills forth doesn’t necessarily emerge from what I see but rather from what I believe is possible. To put it plainly, when I see what has been realised by other agencies and project leaders around the world, my own creative ego steps in and demands that I act on the ideas I have tucked away in my own head. The Louis 200 Exhibit is one of those shows where I found my mind drifting as I walked through it. Interactive, immersive, and informative, I was deeply engaged with the display while my thoughts raced ahead of me. At every turn I immediately unraveled the workings behind the displays, working out the invisible system that would have informed the story, the pathways, the curation, the individual installations, the technology that grounds the story from digital to physical. Offline and online merged in a magical way. It all seemed so simple. Easily replicable. At one point while digging through my thoughts I found striking similarity to an art project that remained buried among “projects to do in Trinidad that the public is not quite ready for” and felt a pang of disappointment and striking sense of renewal. Seeing the Louis story delivered in this simple yet impactful manner was inspiring and somehow made me jealous to have not executed my idea first.

That experience, however, reminded me of something else: While reveling in the potential for immersive experiences in the Caribbean I also remembered the importance of pivoting towards different future points when faced with challenges or unexpected roadblocks. And with that gentle reminder, the feeling if inspiration renewed to overcome that petulant sting of jealousy that so often misguides creative people.

You know that moment just before the 100-metre dash when the runners are at the starting block pressing their heels into the track, pushing themselves back with their forearms, anticipating the sound of the whistle to launch themselves forward towards the finish line? That’s how I felt soon after I got over myself. I held myself in that mindspace for a moment, held that stance. Thought those likely thoughts. Felt the breeze. Felt the competitor next to me. Waited for the sound of the whistle. Breathed deeply. And let time stop.

That is where I found my Futures practice again — in the middle of a Louis Vuitton trunk show exhibit.

I’ve always seen the potential for positive impact in the smallest of initiatives. This is what I consider as the starting line for digital anything — Futures. Not to be confused with the concept of futures in stock trading, this take on strategy is speculative and includes multiple considerations for what is possible. All the futures that lay before us are determined by the immediately observed circumstances that influence decisions-making processes. It is a concept that can help business executives make more informed choices around the future successes anticipated in any given workflow or work cycle. It is multi-faceted planning in the present tense.

The future is now and the possible futures that stem from it are closer than most would think. Futures are in essence the things that could be and can occur once we give it the chance to do so. These chances happen through the dynamic practice of innovation. It’s a funny thing for most people to wrap their minds around now, but it can be harnessed in such a way to develop the Caribbean in such a fashion that is truly extraordinary. With the hospitality, transport, education, and healthcare industries there are so many futures available. Do you ever ask yourself, what does the proverbial futurescape look like for us here in the islands? Do you ever wonder or see technology taking off in our little corner of the world? Or, do you only see it in the movies? What about how futures are realised in far flung places like Singapore and Silicon Valley?

Understanding Futures is to understand this starting position: a stance where thoughts converge before any action is taken allows for something magical to happen. It’s where you tell yourself anything is possible. Anything. And then you just go for whatever as the sound of the whistle calls you. The Caribbean people have embraced smart phone technology like nowhere else in the world. Examples of this include: using mobile phones to drive small businesses through social media, amplifying the message in local news to people in real time, and connecting with loved ones from afar over video conferencing calls. These are just some of the aspects within our current future that most of us could not have fathomed over twenty years ago. All of this possibility achieved with a little device made of very familiar materials performing very familiar functions but in a new way. So what comes next? What comes after this current future? What do all of the futures of tomorrow really look like in Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica, Dominica, Haiti? What would create the pivot points that shift us into unexpected futures? Would it be climate change? Another pandemic? Who knows. But it is important to start asking those questions now before it gets too late for us in the region.

While I commit my focus on the areas of connected spaces and futures design, I am looking to transform the way everyday people engage with the spaces they currently occupy. I am peering through the looking glass into tomorrows and day-afters in effort to bring ourselves into something new, a new kind of place that looks and feels exciting — the kind of place that we will all be pretty glad to call home.