Design Fiction

You’ve probably seen them: strategic plans gathering dust in a drawer or PowerPoint decks full of scenarios no one can really picture. At Pàu, we believe there is a better way. Through Design Fiction, we make possible futures tangible, enabling organizations to make clearer and more grounded decisions. Our research & strategy lead Jan Derboven explains how and why we do this.

What is Design Fiction, really?

Put simply, Design Fiction is about making potential future scenarios tangible. This is done by creating prototypes, visual concepts, or stories that make the consequences of strategic choices feel real and open to discussion. This approach is powerful because traditional strategic work often ends up as abstract slide decks and reports. But by making future scenarios visual and concrete, organizations gain real insight into the implications of their decisions.

Tangibility as a strategic tool

Why make the future tangible instead of just analyzing it? Because analyses often remain abstract, leading to shallow discussions. Tangibility ensures everyone literally sees the same thing, leading to better, deeper conversations and decision-making. When future scenarios become tangible and visual, people can immediately grasp what certain choices might mean.

The Design Fiction method

A successful Design Fiction process consists of several phases. First, we explore how an organization currently views future developments. Then we analyze upcoming trends (“foresighting”) and combine those with internal insights. This fusion results in fresh ideas and scenarios, which are then developed into tangible outputs.

A compelling example is IKEA. Rather than prototyping new furniture, they created a catalogue from a fictional future, showing how furniture could work alongside digital services. This allowed them to explore the impact of strategic choices in a creative and concrete way.

Cone of Possibilities: how far can you stretch your thinking?

An essential tool in Design Fiction is the ​“cone of possibilities”. It helps frame a conversation not just around the most likely futures, but also around alternatives beyond the current comfort zone. The goal is to get organizations to zoom out and discover new options they may not have considered.

With VRT, we used Design Fiction to explore the potential impact of synthetic voices. Rather than building the technology immediately, we created scenarios to examine how listeners and presenters might react. This helped clarify implications and possible use cases — without large tech investments upfront.

At Elia, Design Fiction supported a major digital transformation. We created a prototype to visualize future digital scenarios, giving stakeholders a shared reference point. The prototype wasn’t the end goal, but a catalyst for richer strategic discussion.

Design Fiction at Pàu

At Pàu, we see Design Fiction as part of our strategic process. It’s not a standalone method, but a way to bring strategy and design together earlier in the timeline. Normally, design comes in later. With Design Fiction, design is embedded from the start — leading to stronger strategies and better products.

The power and value of Design Fiction

Design Fiction has a unique ability to shake organizations out of ​“business as usual”. It offers a fresh perspective. Instead of a dry slide deck, you present something tangible. That immediacy helps people see new opportunities straight away.

As Julian Bleecker puts it: ​“Strategy isn’t a plan. It’s a provocation. A story about a future you’re willing to bet on. Slide decks don’t move people. Artifacts and prototypes do.”

Who is Design Fiction for?

Design Fiction isn’t for everyone. It’s especially useful for organizations undergoing major change — those rethinking their operations or customer experience. It’s less useful for incremental product updates. But if you want meaningful conversations about innovation and disruptive shifts, this approach can make all the difference.

At Pàu, we believe in the power of tangible future scenarios. By making imagination concrete, we help organizations make smarter strategic choices. Ready to make your future tangible?