OMATA Annual Report From The Future

Client: OMATAInc.

Team: Near Future Laboratory, OMATA

Project Summary: A representation of a company using the Design Fiction archetype of an Annual Report as seen from its anticipated, speculated future based in the analytics and rational representations of the company's Financial Model.

Project Type(s): DESIGN FICTION, STRATEGY, FUTURES DESIGN, FORESIGHT, 3D DESIGN, VISUAL DESIGN

Project Archetype(s): ANNUAL REPORT, MAGAZINE

Project Year: 2020, 2021

Project Duration: 24 Weeks

Document Published On: Jan 22, 2024, 22:43:50 PST

Document Updated On: Apr 14, 2024, 21:53:55 PDT

Document Written By: Julian Bleecker

The OMATA 2024 Annual Report proved to be a highly effective representation that translated, communicated, and described the vision I had for the company much more effectively than, and with a higher degree of resolution and meaning than could be accomplished with the terse and constrained form of a PowerPoint presentation. The successful outcomes were the development of a high-visibility retail collaboration with the fashion designer Sir Paul Smith, increased social media traction through posts of future product concepts, and most importantly a successful sale of the company allowing the brand and product to continue.

When I went further than just expressing a desire to do brand collaborations, I started creating theme *as if*. The results were remarkable. More below.

An image of a spread from the OMATA 2024 Annual Report. — The OMATA 2024 Annual Report was based on a financial model that was developed in 2016 and continuously updated, projecting four years out.

At the end of 2014, I founded the product design company OMATA. My ambition was to create the OMATA One, a cycling computer that challenged assumptions about what a cycling computer could be. Investment capital was raised and the product was successfully entered into a marketplace in which there were two other cycling computers, both effectively undifferentiated by virtue of being rectangular plastic digital gee-gaws that reflected more about data than they did about the values, spirit, and character of a beautifully simple machine and exquisite and adored sport with a rich history and refined sensibilities.

During the Covid Pandemic, around 2021, I struggled to raise capital to fund a subsequent production run and ramp up the company. I became frustrated with the traditional constraints of the expected ‘11 page PowerPoint pitch deck’ and decided to use Design Fiction to represent the future I envisioned. Using the financial model I had built, I project forward four years and wrote the Annual Report for the company from 2024. This became the best representation of what the company could become — way better than a traditional PowerPoint pitch deck.

At 96 pages, it was a visceral deep-dive into the organization, team, product development, marketing efforts, all represented as if.