As a process, volatile design is non-linear and spontaneous. This means that we don’t organize the process in a way that begins with research, continues with analysis, and finally ends with a proposal. Instead, these parts are coexisting and overlapping. The process is an assemblage of creativity and analysis, craft and speculative thinking, skill and knowledge.
Why?
For two reasons. First, because doing is also thinking. Not only theory and research, but also practice and craft has the potential to bring forth vital insights. It would be stupid to separate them from each other and to treat one of them as superior or prior. Second, because it allows us to have our first prototypes ready much sooner than if we would have worked otherwise.
When?
Volatile design is a tool to be used to achieve short term tactical objectives as well as strategic goals. Volatile design is a way to think and act simultaneously. Thus, it’s a beneficial approach when facing a complex challenge and there is not enough time to play by the book, or when the book simply seems obsolete. The outcome is a ready to use prototype that may be modified along the way: a product launch campaign, a brand identity, a manifesto, a narrative, a visualisation of a new service ...