Reframed Future

FRAME, noun

1. a rigid structure that surrounds or encloses something such as a door or window
2. a basic structure that underlies or supports a system, concept, or text

REFRAME, vb (tr)

1. to support or enclose (a picture, photograph, etc) in a new or different frame
2. to change the plans or basic details of (a policy, idea, etc): reframe policy issues and problems
3. to look at, present, or think of (beliefs, ideas, relationships, etc) in a new or differet way
4. (Photography) to change the focus or perspective of (a view) through a lens
5. to say (something) in a different way: reframe the question

In one of our very first classes we discussed and read about the idea of framing problems and solutions and creating new “frames” for them. It got me thinking a lot about the idea of framing situations, ideas, opinions and point of views, and as a very organic move to this line of thought I immediately focused on “Reframing”.

Reframing, an amorphous idea, but also an action, is present in our everyday life and probably also in our future more than we tend to think. For a while now I’m trying to think about big ideas and buzzwords like “innovation”, “the future of technology and innovation”, “designing the future”, “what does it mean to be innovative?”, “practicing design in business” etc.; as I keep thinking about those words I realize that the future might not hold another iPhone.

I believe that the future, and us as a very integral part of it, is not going to bring us the next BIG INNOVATION. The future is going to be about those small details that make a huge difference, about tiny ideas that will simplify our daily life; It will be about reframing industries and trying to break previous frames that we were so used to before; It will be about thinking differently about existing “stuff” and reframing them, even if it’s just by creating new terminology in order to open our minds and eyes to those small details inside the well-known frames, details that will change our perspective and help us create new and exciting added-value.

Practicing a quick example

Last semester I focused my research work in customer experience in the online space. I’ve been trying to think what a good brand personal experience contains and how a brand can execute it. The conversation soon shifted towards creating added-value — creating an experience that is beyond a product; that in its core is based on creating relationships with customers. While developing those ideas in the existing frameworks of the online space I just realized that talking about “Added-value” seems so generic an inappropriate for what it meant for me in the context of my research.

So I turned to reframing it:

ADDED-VALUE, noun

1. Added Value, but deeper…
2. Value=the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something.
3. Additional=added, extra, or supplementary to what is already present or available.

I was trying to understand what was disturbing me in those two words and by breaking them I realized that it was the fact that they didn’t capture the intangible aspect of it. When talking about customer experience, the intangible, the way something makes you feel, becomes a crucial aspect of the tangible, the product. This is why I felt a more amorphous term will be much more suitable.

Something Extra was the term I was looking for, not a “bigger than words” term, nothing too sophisticated, but something that will help open one’s mind when thinking about an experience; it could be anything and nothing at the same time, each one of us can drift and think about so many different meanings for it, without being limited and stuck inside existing frames.

The need to reframe things is obviously a direct result of our need to frame things. I would love to see a future that will bring us more reframing processes, but without creating new frames that will come in the place of the old ones; it might be possible.