Futurecasting Canvas

version 1.5

Let’s design a better future. Together.

The Foossa Futurecasting Canvas (FFC) is a tool for

teams and organizations to model, rehearse, and

prepare for the future as part of their core strategic

planning and innovation practices. This document

provides a brief introduction to the FFC. We offer

custom trainings and curricula to help you make the

most of the future. Let’s talk: hello@foossa.com.

Weak Signals:

Futurecasting Canvas / Preliminary Worksheet

Identify weak signals, early adopter

behaviors, outlier innovations, novelties,

and other “proto-trends” related to your

industry or interests.

What would the world look like if these

weak signals scaled up and became

mainstream?

Driving Forces:

Weak Signals:

Futurecasting Canvas / Preliminary Worksheet

Identify driving forces and uncertainties

that affect your work. Driving forces are

technological, cultural, economic, and

social phenomena, trends, and

transformations.

Map key driving forces on a spectrum:

i.e. low/high inflation, fast/slow

technological innovation, population

decline/growth, etc.

Driving Forces:

Futurecasting Canvas / Scenario Grid

Wildcards:

Fast Tech Innovation,

Population Decline

Slow Tech Innovation,

Population DeclineSlow Tech Innovation,

Population Growth

Fast Tech Innovation,

Population Growth

Population Growth

Tech

nol

ogic

al

In

nov

atio

n

Massive World Wide Data Hack

Disaster Triggers Migration Crisis

Etc.

Title: Logline:

Implications: Actions:

Indicators: Questions:

Give your scenario a name.

Futurecasting Canvas / Scenario Summary

Title: Logline:

Implications: Actions:

Indicators: Questions:

Summarize the scenario in 2-3 sentences

Futurecasting Canvas / Scenario Summary

Title: Logline:

Futurecasting Canvas / Scenario Summary

Implications: Actions:

Indicators: Questions:

What are some of the social, cultural, and

economic implications of this scenario?

What changes? What is disrupted? What

stays the same? What norms are rewritten?

Who are the winners and losers?

Title: Logline:

Implications: Actions:

Indicators: Questions:

What actions should we take in the future

to respond to the implications of this

scenario? What actions can we take NOW

to prepare? What must we do to make a

preferred scenario a reality? What must we

do to prevent an undesirable future?

Futurecasting Canvas / Scenario Summary

Title: Logline:

Implications: Actions:

Indicators: Questions:

What metrics and milestones would tell us

that this scenario is becoming a reality?

Futurecasting Canvas / Scenario Summary

Title: Logline:

Implications: Actions:

Indicators: Questions:What are kinds of questions or concerns does this

scenario spark? What additional research questions

can we explore to refine and test this scenario?

Futurecasting Canvas / Scenario Summary

Sketch Title:

Futurecasting Canvas / Scenario Sketch

Make your scenario come to life in the form of an

immersive story. Make it feel real and immediate for

us using the medium and technique(s) of your

choice: storyboard, moodboard, live action role play

(LARP), video, VR, etc. We encourage you to sketch

out your scenarios beyond the confines of this page.

Scenario Prequel:

Futurecasting Canvas / Origin Stories

Using the indicators from the main canvas

as guides, formulate a prequel to your

future scenario sketch. What happened

before your future story takes place? How

did we get here? What’s the origin story?

Prequel to the Prequel:

Scenario Prequel:

Futurecasting Canvas / Origin Stories

What happened before the prequel? Set

this part of the story closer to our present

day to understand how our current reality

could evolve into the imagined future.

Prequel to the Prequel:

Futurecasting Canvas / Cheat Sheet

1. Identify trends and weak signals of interest.

2. Identify driving forces behind the trends and

weak signals.

3. Prioritize 2-3 driving forces to start.

4. Map the driving force as a spectrum or

continuum: i.e. low to high unemployment, slow

to fast technological innovation.

5. Plot the top two driving force spectrums on the

scenario grid.

6. Optional: Mix in additional “Wild Card” or

“Black Swan” scenarios

7. Build out scenarios from each grid quadrant

(and wildcard) using the FFC.

8. Start thinking through potential implications and

indicators of the scenario based on the driving

forces at play.

9. Respond with potential actions in response to

the scenario.

10. Bring the scenario to life with an immersive

storytelling sketch.

11.Give the scenario a title and logline summary.

12. Pose questions for further discussion and

investigation.

13. Craft a prequel and pre-prequel origin stories to

each scenario to understand how they might

come to pass.

Weak Signals:

Futurecasting Canvas / Preliminary Worksheet

Driving Forces:

Scenario Grid: Futurecasting Canvas / Scenario Grid

Wildcards:

Title: Logline:

Implications: Actions:

Indicators: Questions:

Futurecasting Canvas / Scenario Summary

Sketch Title:

Futurecasting Canvas / Scenario Sketch

Scenario Prequel:

Futurecasting Canvas / Origin Stories

Prequel to the Prequel: