What:
A ‘picture of now’ describes the context in which an issue, a service or an organisation exists. It describes  Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors. (PESTLE)

Why:
New products and services do not exist in a vacuum. The  issues  surrounding a  problem are much bigger than we often imagine. Before designing future services or scenarios it is important to have an accurate picture of the present.

Maps are only useful when the user knows where they are.

When:
The picture of now research should be carried out in the discovery phase - early in the project development cycle. It can be referred to and used throughout.

How:
A picture of now is formed by collecting data that represents best current knowledge in each area of research (PESTLE). This may be past and current (but not predictive) trends research from reliable sources and expert interviews. The key is to understanding factors that underlie the trend, this can help you decide if the trend is likely to continue and how it affects your issue. Systems thinking is useful for uncovering these dynamics.

Example:
Before developing  scenarios for the future of interactive TV we needed to have a detailed picture of the current state of  play and the forces that would drive future change and have most impact.

I led a team of researchers who investigated:

Audience behaviour
Industry (technologies and policy)
Society
The Economy
Deeper trends (change over a longer period with potentially radical implications)

To bring this data to life we created a street scene to house our key facts. Different zones corresponded to key themes emerging out of the research.

In workshops we explored which trends were most surprising to our clients and which would have most impact on the sector.