Designing the delivery of the future — An example of Vision in Product Design (ViP) being used
It’s been 10 years since I originally published a series of articles on my old blog trying to explain the Vision in Product Design approach by using an example of how we used it for a client during my Master’s degree. Since it still pulls in a few people per month, I figured I would stitch it together into a single long read and make it available here, where it looks so much more beautiful 😁 (thank you Medium!)
In another post I talked about the Vision in Product Design approach, explaining what it was about and the benefits of it.
Since then, I’ve been applying it in a couple of projects I’m currently working on, and I found that the trickiest thing of this approach is to know exactly what it is that you are looking for with it and how to keep in track. So in this train of thought, I figured that it would be interesting and helpful for people not familiarized with ViP to go through each of the phases of the approach while having a concrete example of what should be done and what kind of results to expect from each phase of the design process.
So as an example, I’ll be using the process that me and my team have gone through during our Integral Design Project, which is a second-year master’s course at the TU Delft involving team members from the 3 master directions (Strategic product design, Design for Interaction and Integral Product Design) working together on a project.
In our case, our goal was to develop a new, more sustainable product for a producer of truck coachworks (known in Dutch as Combi’s), focusing on their current products for “delivery and distribution”.
So, assuming you read the previous post and are already a bit familiarized with the methodology, let’s cut to the chase…
PART 1: DECONSTRUCTION — THE PRODUCT LEVEL
The first step of the deconstruction phase of the ViP process is analysis at the product level. The analysis was done by finding all underlying factors that result in the product (Lloyd, Hekker, & van Dijk, 2006). We began the process by first understanding all the quantitative and qualitative value of the product itself (Combi 2000 & Combi 3000). The later process is about understanding why are the products the way they are? : where the inspiration of the product might come from? How has it evolved to be like this? and what is the intended and unintended design qualities of the product?
Remember that ViP is all about looking, reflecting, and understanding the existing products from
distant perspective.
Step 1: Analysing Product Value: Quantitative & Qualitative Analysis
According to Burgess and Jackson [1], there are two ways a product can be valued: extrinsically and intrinsically. Extrinsic Value is quantitative and often referred to as “instrumental” value (Burgess & Jackson, 2006). Extrinsic value is all about technical specifications that the existing products have such as dimension, material specifications, features, etc. Qualitative Value is about intangible value attributed to the products that can give added value to the product such as Reliability; Flexibility; Safety, etc.
According to the graphic above, the qualitative values of the Combi products can be categorized into several aspects in which some features that can strengthen the value. Some of those features already exist and are already good (++), some features exist but should be improved (+) and some other features do not exist yet (-) and could be added in the future product concept.
Step2: Why are the products the way they are?
On the table below, the results from our brain-storming session can be seen, in which we asked ourselves the question: “why are the products we are dealing with the way they are?”
Step 3: Intended and unintended design qualities.
The figure below shows the result from the brainstorming session about how the product looks and which qualities can be categorized as intended and unintended design qualities. According to Lloyd, Hekker, & van Dijk (2006), Intended design qualities are the design qualities that are intended that way by the designer. Unintended design qualities are those qualities that were not intended but become the result of subjective projection by other people.
PART 2: DECONSTRUCTION — THE INTERACTION LEVEL
The interaction qualities characterizing the relationship between the Combis and the different users involved with it was analyzed through a brainstorming session where the team reflected, with a play role technique, the qualities which can be perceived from the interaction of these two entities (product and user). This analysis was based not only on immediate reactions of a direct user (i.e. the person loading goods), but also on the consideration of other people, indirectly involved, but affected by the product (i.e. a driver behind the truck waiting for it to clear the way)
These interaction qualities where later clustered and each given a level of importance in order to make a selection of some of them which seem to be the most relevant or interesting for us to focus on and study.
PART 3: DECONSTRUCTION — THE CONTEXT LEVEL
The aim of deconstruction at the context level is to try and think about what factors in the original conditions that a product was created for provided a possible reason to produce that particular person product interaction. (Lloyd, Hekker, & van Dijk, 2006) One of the most important parts of this deconstruction consists in the “context analysis” that provides key information to understand the system and the product itself.
When designers are developing products that function in complex situations, they should study context because it create a fit between product, user, and environment (emotional design and sensitive design), given that find departure points for creative solutions (against fixation and against band-aid design) and offer the know-how to make the product adapt to the context. (Stappers, 2007)
For our project of designing the delivery of the future, the context should offer the opportunity to understand the product/need and the space to analyze about the exercise to design for others (instead of just serving himself as a designer). That’s why the team develops a context when it can find some important elements at the same time.
The best way to create this context was discovered by researching different techniques for Creative Facilitation (Tassoul, 2006). The author of the book suggests combining techniques and procedures in order to generate more ideas in an efficient process. One of these techniques is “future perfect” that is based on storytelling. The term Future Perfect stands for a grammatical tense: that some action will have been fulfilled in relation to a reference in the future. The idea of the technique is that one imagines oneself at some point in the future, often a point at which some innovation has been implemented and then makes up a story how this “present” situation came to be.
The best metaphor that represents and illustrates the whole package of characteristics and complexity of the system is an imaginary country as a compact representation of the context. For that reason, the team created the imaginary country Barist and represent it in a conventional map of the country and described of its character in two different moments of its history, in the present (2008) and in the future (2025) following the scope of the project presented in the previous report.
The creation of this imaginary country started with a brainstorming that concluded in some basic information about key elements of the country like name, capital city, language, government, population, area, and GDP like the starting point to describe the character of the nation. After the first brainstorming the team defined two aspects simultaneously; the map of the country as a visual representation of its area showing relationships between elements of that space such as objects and regions; and the description of the current situation of the nation in terms of demographic aspects, economy, transportation system, and government.
The team was working in a continuous workshop developing the map of Barist for the year 2008. The starting point was the background (a layout with the basic geographical and political division). The team in a systematic approach started developing the structure of the country, focusing at the same time in cities, transportation system and environmental aspects (natural resources and energy sources).
The result of the first part of the exercise was a current (2008) map and relevant information about the country.
After this part of the exercise, the team has developed a new layout with the future situation of Barist in 2025 following the factors that the team discovered in a subsequent phase. The work-out consisted in an analysis on how these factors could influence the development of the country through 17 years, changing the landscape of the nation and the environmental aspects, the profile of the cities and its transportation system. At the end of the exercise, the result was a new version of the map of Barist 2025 and a paragraph with the description of the country and its changes. This latter part of the exercise will be explained in full detail on the next post of this series.
AN IMAGINARY COUNTRY: BARIST IN 2008
GEOGRAPHY: Barist is a relatively small coastal country, bordered on the north by the Besar Sea, on the south-east by Nomidia, on the south-west by Ninaland and on the west by Splashland. The island of Baru-Bali is located in the Besar Sea just off the north coast. The country is defined by a varying landscape, with a big mountain range at the south-east (Saint Anna’s mountains), a desert in the south (Rico’s desert) and two main rivers (Saint Bari and Saint Anna).
Arable land is scarce and mainly situated in the east, near the city of Santa Carmen. Saint David’s National Natural Reserve was established in the western border of the country to protect the last remaining natural forest left in Barist, which is rich in local fauna and flora.
DEMOGRAPHICS: Ethnic Dutch, the country’s original inhabitants, remain a majority of the population (55%) despite the increasing migration from neighboring countries. Other ethnicities making up an important part of the population include Indonesians (23%) and Latin Americans (15%). The most important minority is comprised of Ninans (4%) migrating into Barist in search for a better life. As can be expected from these numbers Barist is truly a multicultural melting pot.
The local population is aging, but many young immigrants from all social classes are flowing into the country. The population is concentrated in 3 main urban areas, with Saint Bari being the biggest (7 million including the financial district of Baru Bali City), followed by Santa Carmen (4.5 million) and the relatively new city of Zwappa (1.7 million).
Other important but smaller urban concentrations include Santo Stefanus (350,000) in Baru Bali island, Marjelopolis (300,000) and Santa Anna (200,000). Income and living standards are good in most of the country and comparable to those of western European countries, yet there are still some very poor areas (like the slums of the fishermen village of Santo Stefanus) where the population consists mainly of low skilled immigrants from the neighboring countries.
ECONOMICS: As a small country with a relatively large population, the resources are quite limited. The Saint Anna mountain range at the south-east of the country provides a source for various metals and minerals, exploited mainly for local industrial use. Rico’s Desert has a small reserve of oil used entirely by the local market and peak oil has been reached. This supply is not enough and Barist still relies heavily on imported oil to fulfill its energy needs. These resources are processed in the main industrial area close to Saint Bari’s port facilities.
Arable land is relatively scarce (the most important location being the agricultural district near the city of Santa Carmen) and the quality is decaying due to the heavy use it must endure. The crop production is unfortunately not enough to feed the Baristian population in its entirety.
Some cattle are bred in the vicinity of Marjelopolis, and its derived products are used entirely by the local market.
Due to these limited resources, Baristian economy is based mainly on services and commerce and relies heavily on the import of raw materials, food, and other basic products. Saint Bari’s port is one of the biggest and most modern of the continent and it handles goods for Barist and its neighboring countries.
Zwappa has recently become a hi-tech and knowledge hub, due mainly to the influence of the Technical University located in this city, which can explain the growing importance that the rising technology related and R&D industries are taking in the local GDP.
The financial district of Saint Bari (located in Baru Bali Island and known as Baru Bali City) is a major player of the region’s economy, and most major banking and commerce multinationals have established offices here. The district provides a high floating population of business people, who also have a big impact on Baru Bali Island as a high-end tourist destination with big and luxurious hotel resorts in its northern coast.
GOVERNMENT: Barist is a presidential republic with a stable government. Overpopulation is a major concern, as it lays even more pressure on the few resources of the small nation.
Population distribution is also a main concern of the government, and this can be seen reflected in some of the policies applied in the last decade, like for example the city of Zwappa, which was founded 8 years ago under a strict urban planning as an attempt to shift some of the pressure away from the capital and as a center for the development of the new technology and R&D industries.
The aim of the government is to promote the growth of the commerce and services industries, for which the transportation system and the financial district (Baru Bali City) play a key role.
TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM: Due to the limited resources and the big imports industry, the local transportation grid plays a major role in the economic development and growth of not only Barist, but the whole region.
The transportation system in Barist is an intermodal system composed of a major international airport (Prabowo International Airport) located in Baru Bari Island, a major port in the south-east of the capital which is the main maritime gateway to the continent, a minor port in the vicinity of Santa Carmen (dealing mainly with agricultural products) and a fairly good network of railways and roads interconnecting all the major urban and industrial areas. A new port is also being developed in the north of Zwappa.
The public road system is under a lot of pressure from the growing population, and certain key nods are having a hard time keeping up with this growth. Traffic jams are a common sight during rush-hours in Saint Bari’s city center and main highways, as a lot of people who work here actually live in the suburban outskirts of the capital city or in other urban areas. The government is making efforts to reduce this impact by updating the public mass transit network within the city and its vicinity, and encouraging people to use it by means of tax cuts and experimental policies such as restraining the use of privately owned cars in certain areas or during certain time periods.
The transportation between Baru Bali Island and the mainland was maintained by ferries until not so long ago when the International Airport was constructed along with a bridge (railway and road) connecting it to Saint Bari. Some ferry lines still work mainly to transport passengers.
The connections between Barist and the neighboring countries are quite good, especially for freight transport, in order to efficiently distribute the goods that enter the continent via Saint Bari’s port.
PART 4: DESIGNING — THE CONTEXT LEVEL
At this point, we’ve already reached the designing phase of the process, and we start by defining the future context.
DRIVING FACTORS FOR THE FUTURE
Within the VIP process, the use of factors is intended to assist the deconstruction of the present world context in order to map probable and predictable features/aspects on a projected future.
Factors can be divided into four distinctive categories: Principles that determine stable patterns in the world; States which define relatively constant circumstances; Developments which reflect the changes over time, and Trends that determine people’s behaviors as a consequence to these changes.
The following list enumerates some of the most relevant and persistent factors that were identified within the PEST analysis (Political, Economic, Social and Technological) for the transportation domain. The selection was made based on the team’s rating of the aspects from which transportation is dependent on. These selected items acted as driving factors in order to develop a scenario of the future context in the form of an updated map of Barist for the year 2025 in the next phase of the project.
Limited amount of resources:
The present growing demand of resources such as oil, natural gas, fresh water, and arable land has put a lot of stress into the world’s finite amount of natural resources, especially those which are non-renewable.
Technological research must have this issue as a focal point in order to guarantee a sustainable future both in terms of the environmental impact and the world’s economy. In fact, many fields, such as the oil industry, have already realized the importance of this issue and are spending vast amounts of money in the development of new, clean, efficient and sustainable fuel technologies.
As for the designers’ responsibility, there is the need to begin integrating and spreading these new technologies’ potential.
Overpopulation & concentration of population:
Overpopulation can be defined as the number of people living in a certain area exceeding the resources available within a specific area to sustain the society. It has become a major concern in recent times, as many believe that not only certain geographical areas around the world are reaching this level, but that in fact, the world itself as a whole entity is facing this possibility due to the uncontrolled growth of the global population.
The concentration of population is also related to this problem but is seen more like a characteristic of modern societies that can have both beneficial and/or negative impact on a certain environment. Beneficial, for example in terms of localizing (and thus minimizing) the needed infrastructure to support the society and negative, for example, in terms of overusing the local resources to the point of reaching overpopulation.
Congestion of infrastructure:
The uncontrolled and extremely fast-paced growth of the population in urban areas, both natural and by migration of people, can also be a big problem as the infrastructure growth rate might be slower than the population growth rate which results in the congestion of the infrastructure, poor planning to accommodate newcomers and the subsequent decline of the living conditions standards of the area.
This can be reflected as an example in the heavy (often extreme) congestion seen in many road networks within major urban areas, especially those in developing nations which have not had the time and/or resources to update their infrastructure to cope with the population growth.
Waste problem:
The rise of mass production and consumption throughout the last century has also caused a growth in the amount of waste been discarded. This overload of waste, often unmanaged, must be addressed in a responsible manner by modern society, as it has become a problem that has a negative effect on the sustainability in various levels such as the environmental impact of non-bio-degradable waste.
An adequate treatment of waste is needed in order to guarantee that the waste levels are kept to a sustainable level. Proper waste management also offers the possibility of recuperating materials for recycling or re-use.
eCommerce:
The rise of the internet in the past two decades has lead to a new way of handling business and has opened new distribution channels that can reach people more easily. The possibilities of eCommerce and online shopping have revolutionized the way people acquire their products, and the logistics involved in this trade. Websites such as Amazon.com and eBay.com are just but a few examples of this new trend.
Smart automated systems:
Electronics and high-tech systems have penetrated society in such a way that it is currently unthinkable to separate them from each other. From robotization in industrial environments to the usage in medicine, to the ever more advanced communication technologies, high-tech devices have become an integral part of everyday life as facilitators of human tasks.
The next step, of course, is the development of smart systems which can not only be considered tools which act as an extension of humans, but that can act independently of human interaction.
THE FUTURE — BARIST IN 2025
The previously identified driving factors were used in order to define what the future context would be like. The main changes occurring in Barist by the year 2025 are described below.
Geography:
Global warming has had a negative effect on Barist, as well as in the rest of the world. Rico’s desert has continued expanding to alarming levels and driving away the people who used to live in its proximity. As water levels rise, the threat of flooding is increasing, and many areas that were not prepared for the fast changes have suffered from this, as is the case with the delta of Saint Anna’s river which has flooded several times creating problems for the population of the area and for the quality of the land in the agricultural district nearby.
Over-mining has caused erosion in Saint Anna’s mountains, which have also lost the snow-capped peaks due to rising temperatures. Deforestation has destroyed almost a third of Saint David’s Natural Reserve on the side of neighboring countries with less extract environmental rules.
Demographics:
The total population of Barist skyrocketed to 31 million inhabitants, which means that the population density almost doubled. This is most evident in the sudden growth of Saint Bari and Zwappa, which have grown to merge with each other into a single megalopolis known as the Zwappa-Bari metropolitan area. In this area, suburbia has also been pushed even further away from the city center, to cope with the growing city.
Other main urban centers have grown too, except for Marjelopolis, which was affected by the growth of Rico’s desert, and a big part of its population was forced to move away, most of them into Zwappa-Bari.
The growth of Rico’s Desert also affected Ricopolis, in neighboring country Ninaland, which has created a recent wave of migration of Ninans in search of a better future in Barist. Unfortunately, lots of them are low skilled and end up living in very poor conditions in the slums of Santo Stefanus.
Economics:
Overexploitation of the natural resources has meant a severe decline of the mining industry, and the few oil wells have dried long ago, meaning that the energy needs still rely partly on imported fuels, yet a growing share is being fulfilled by alternative energy sources such as solar farms in Rico’s Desert, offshore windmill fields in Besar Sea and the construction of Heru’s Dam in Saint Bari’s river to be used for a hydro-electrical power plant.
A bigger population and the effects of global warming have had a negative effect on the quality and production power of the agricultural district which has increased Barist’s dependency on foreign food sources.
The economy is stronger than ever and still relies heavily on commerce and trade, which translates into Baru-Bali City’s continuous growth in influence as one of the major financial centers in the world, a growth of the industrial areas of Saint Bari and an increase in the amounts of goods flowing into the country.
The investment in the development and acquisition of Information and Communication Technologies from knowledge oriented centers and universities brings several advantages to what national business and transportation are concerned. eCommerce has revolutionized the way things are bought and a big portion of the people living in urban areas now choose for the convenience of online shopping and home delivery.
Government:
The government is making great efforts and investments for a more sustainable future, with “green” projects such as self-sustaining buildings, recycling plants and a high investment in the development of alternative energy sources.
Waste management projects such as the collection of discarded goods by the same company that produces them (in a cradle to cradle approach) have also been organized and incentives for environmentally friendly companies implementing such projects include tax cuts and subsidies. There are more and more policies intended as incentives for the citizens to live more sustainable lives, such as the prohibition of the circulation of privately owned cars within the city centers, and discounted fares for the eco-friendly public transportation network.
Transportation System:
Saint Bari’s Port has increased its capacity substantially in order to cope with the changing transportation needs of the growing economy and population. The port at East Cape has also grown and the port at Zwappa is already operational and works as a satellite supporting port for Saint Bari. The airports capacity to handle freight has also increased accordingly to the new needs. A fully integrated and fractal system of transportation is now used, for which different main distribution nods have been established, which are subsequently linked to smaller nods that serve more specific areas The already high and increasing prices of fossil fuels have meant a gradual (yet still not finalized) move towards more sustainable propulsion sources for all types of vehicles such as electrical or fuel-cell powered.
OUR VISION
Following the Vision in Product Design method, the contextual factors that you select are like the ingredients of a meal; you have to think about how they will combine, how they relate to each other, and what the overall experience will be like. The methodology suggests to group the factors into manageable clusters and describe the relationships between them.
For our project, the team chose a mission statement like the best way to represent the aims of the team in relation with the factors and its relationships in the long term (a mission statement is a short written description of the aims of a business, charity, government department or public organization).
PART 5: DESIGNING — THE INTERACTION LEVEL
By following the ViP methodology, the next step in our process was to think about the interaction level in the future context. In this new step, the idea is to identify a number of interaction qualities which are relevant in our attempt to achieve the vision that we conceived in the previous phase, but without thinking of any particular product yet.
These qualities of interaction will be of great importance for the design team in the next phase of the process in which they will serve as a guideline to develop our future product.
In order to identify these qualities of interaction, the team performed a brainstorming session in which a list was made of all the possible qualities that we could think of which in some way or another would be relevant to our vision. These were later reviewed (and clustered when possible) and a final selection was made of the most interesting ones which are listed below.
NON INTRUSIVE: Intruding: “to thrust oneself in without invitation, permission, or welcome” The interaction should not be forced into the user; the product should not be seen as obstructing him in any way and be as transparent as possible.
EPHEMERAL: Ephemeral: “lasting a very short time” The interaction between the product and the user will spam a short period of time.
ACCEPTANCE & HARMONY / EQUAL & BALANCED: Harmony: “pleasing or congruent arrangement of parts” There should be a balanced and harmonious interaction between the user and the product; a relationship in which both parties give and take.
INFORMATIVE / COMMUNICATIVE: Communication: “a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior” The interaction should be informative and communicative for both parties. The user should know what the product “knows” and vice-versa.
INSPIRING: Inspiring: “having an animating or exalting effect” An interaction that inspires the user in a positive way is desired
ENDEARING / PLEASANT: Pleasant: “having qualities that tend to give pleasure” There must be a pleasant interaction which the user enjoys and can feel comfortable with.
PART 6: DESIGNING — THE PRODUCT LEVEL
Once you reach the product level once again, you use the information from all the previous phases of ViP, especially the vision which you created, and the interaction qualities you intend to have with your product, and you finally start designing the product (or service) itself.
This is probably the phase of the process which will be closest to home to designers, as here’s where you start giving shape to the cloud of ideas that have been generated so far, and you finally bring them down to creating a product that fulfills the requirements of your domain.
In our case, here’s the final result after designing the product level for the delivery truck of the future:
- Multiple access doors.
- Electrical vehicles for “personal delivery”. Using a fractal system, the goods are transported in a very efficient way, by transferring the goods from bigger to smaller vehicles.
- Intelligent organization of good within the truck, so that the goods that have to be delivered earlier are closer to the doors.
- The time that the truck will be in this location is shown in one of its sides to inform other vehicles.
- The truck serves the purpose of delivering goods and of collecting recyclable material from the users, such as bottles or paper.
- Interchangeable publicity.
- The truck is very close to the floor for easier loading and unloading of goods.
- Zero emissions.
- Detachable containers allow for the truck to be on the road longer, as it can detach empty containers and attach a full one without the truck having to stop the truck for too long at the distribution center.
- Solar panels make the container energy-self-sufficient.
DELIVERIES IN 2025
Underneath you can find a scenario of how the delivery would be performed:
Another normal weekday at Zwappa-Bari, Barist’s capital city and one of the busiest megalopolis in the world; the streets are crowded with people walking or moving about in their individual personal transportation pods. Many of them are waiting at the public tram line or heading down to the subway since privately owned vehicles are not allowed in the city centre anymore to avoid traffic congestion. Although everyone seems to be on their own, they are in fact connected with their friends through their wireless communication devices. All around one can be inspired with dynamic projections on walls and streets and interactive information displays. The city is full of animated colourful and bright broadcasting!
A very common sight next to the river passage is the lane for the distribution vehicles. These are seen bringing goods bought online to be delivered at people’s homes, but they also collect old recyclable material to take back to the distribution centre which will then have it shipped to the recycling plants. From fresh groceries to domestic appliances or electronic devices these vehicles are known for representing a key element within the modern transportation infrastructure — ‘Eco-friendly, convenient 8 safe”‘l is the delivery company’s motto.
[Baru Bali | Financial District | 10:00 am]
Mico, a stock broker working at his office, orders some special shopping online. He intends to offer a birthday present to Nina, his wife He knows it takes just a few days to deliver the package and it can be delivered anywhere he wants, so he arranges for it to be delivered directly to his house and on the date of Nina’s birthday,[Zwappa-Bari | City Center | Birthday, 4:00pm]
With the package on its way, Mico receives a text message on his phone to confirm that the package will arrive today, and the time he can expect it to arrive_ All of this is automatically managed by the intelligent system of the delivery company which can track all delivery trucks via GPS and calculate delivery times for every client.When the truck arrives to Mico’s neighbourhood, it parks at the closest proper lane and the driver and his companion start unloading and delivering the goods that need to be delivered throughout this specific area by using their SMDV (Small and medium delivery vehicle).
Mico’s order includes not only what he bought for Nina’s birthday. but also the groceries he ordered for the week and that new laptop he bought online. All of the items are collected by one single integrated system, and delivered at once.
As Mico’s order arrives to his doorstep, his costumer ID is quickly scanned and authenticated by the driver Mico comments to the driver about how different everything is these days.
Mico: “Years ago one had to sign documents and loose lots of time with waiting, and you had no idea when things would amve- Even more, having a delivery truck inside the city next to your doorstep was a nightmare for other cars. Not convenient at all”
Driver: “For me the best thing nowadays is the easy loading and unloading of the truck. You see, all boxes are property aligned and in an optimal organization so that all the goods that I need to deliver are placed in the proper order that I have to drop them off And with these SMDVs. I don’t need to make any physical effort any more. And since we bring all the things that need to be delivered to this area in one single trip, we avoid causing any more traffic than needed and we get nd of all that driving and stopping every two blocks.
And then with the help of satellite communication my friend, these trucks basically drive themselves! We have a system that indicates to us the correct way to follow in order to be time efficient for each delivery trip.”
Mico: “Indeed. it’s fantastic how optimal these systems have become. Is it safe to leave your truck alone there?”
Driver: “Well sure, the container is continuously monitored. It can identity the address where it stands and gives access only to the respective packages that need to be delivered here. But hey! Did you notice the advertisement on the side of the truck?!
Mico: — reading — ‘We are saving 40% energy by using this truck…’
“Ahhh, 1 didn’t know that! So why exactly is that?”Driver: “Well, there are many ways in which we save energy. You see, the truck itself is electrical and is more energy-efficient than combustion engine trucks. On the roof of the container we have solar panels which generate the energy needed for all the electronics and lights within it. And the container itself detaches from the truck and can be attached to other containers like wagons on a train, so that when we need to move Vs of them at the same time, it can be done by e single truck. .. look! There’s
one of them going over that bridge there!Mico: “Wow! I didn’t know it was so well thought. Well. I really need to continue with some other things now. Here’s a box with our recycling material and thanks a lot for the packages. Have a nice day!”
Driver: “Yes. I must also continue with my deliveries. It was nice talking to you sir, and enjoy the rest of your day”
That’s it! I hope you enjoyed your read, and more importantly, that you learned something about this helpful and awesome design framework.
[1] Keith Burgess & Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. , “Intrinsic Value” (www.analphilosopher.com)
Originally published at www.bluehair.co on December 13, 2008.
