The OMATA One is an exemplar of a hybrid mode of futuring — one that moves quickly from speculation ...
Prototypes are like thinking plus making..
..you can't have one without the other.
Published on May 06, 2025
The OMATA One is an exemplar of a hybrid mode of futuring — one that moves quickly from speculation to making to commercial product. It started with a simple idea: to create a cycling computer that was easy to use, accurate, and beautiful. I wanted to feel what it was like to create a product that effervesced the analog-mechanical feel of what it is to ride a bicycle, but did not require a smartphone, nor was over-indexed on the visual semantics of the already overclocked digital world.
1. Prototypes are like thinking plus making.. you can't have one without the other.
2. I think of prototypes as a way to make sense of an idea. They are a way to think through a problem, to explore possibilities, and to communicate ideas. They are a bridge between the abstract and the concrete, between thought and action.
3. Prototypes are a way to make ideas tangible, to give them form and substance. They are a way to test ideas, to see how they work in the real world, and to learn from the process of making.
4. Here at the Near Future Laboratory, every thing we do is this kind of thinking-making hybrid.
5. If you want to know more about this, check out our work on the Omata One, a cycling computer that we designed and built in 2014. It was a prototype that helped us think through the design and functionality of the product, and it ultimately led to the creation of a successful product.
6. It started with a simple idea: to create a cycling computer that was easy to use, accurate, and beautiful. I wanted to feel what it was like to create a product that effervesced the analog-mechanical feel of what it is to ride a bicycle, but did not require a smartphone, nor was over-indexed on the visual semantics of the already overclocked digital world.
7. ”Modern but also mechanical.”
8. If this approach to imagining through physical / digital / software / hardware prototypes resonates with you, get in touch. We are always looking for new projects and collaborations.
Prototypes I built of the OMATA One to help instantiate an idea through making of a thing.
Prototypes are like thinking plus making.. you can’t have one without the other.
I think of prototypes as a way to make sense of an idea. They are a way to think through a problem, to explore possibilities, and to communicate ideas. They are a bridge between the abstract and the concrete, between thought and action.
Prototypes are a way to make ideas tangible, to give them form and substance. They are a way to test ideas, to see how they work in the real world, and to learn from the process of making.
Here at the Near Future Laboratory, every thing we do is this kind of thinking-making hybrid.
If you want to know more about this, check out our work on the Omata One, a cycling computer that we designed and built in 2014. It was a prototype that helped us think through the design and functionality of the product, and it ultimately led to the creation of a successful product.
It started with a simple idea: to create a cycling computer that was easy to use, accurate, and beautiful. I wanted to feel what it was like to create a product that effervesced the analog-mechanical feel of what it is to ride a bicycle, but did not require a smartphone, nor was over-indexed on the visual semantics of the already overclocked digital world.
”Modern but also mechanical.”
If this approach to imagining through physical / digital / software / hardware prototypes resonates with you, get in touch. I’m always looking to help organizations and teams catalyze their thinking, strategy, and product development through this kind of work. I am always looking for new projects and collaborations.
An idea instantiated in its legally protected form. I’m particularly proud of this and I’m not crowing: I wrote the patent, drew the diagrams, ran it by the lawyers as a sanity check and to check a box on a form, but it basically went through as I had written it. A couple of years later, it was granted. I did that, and if I had not made the prototypes there is no way I would have seen the one distinctive feature that would distinguish the OMATA One’s engineering and mechanical design. (Believe it or not — well, just believe it — that just the characteristic of having this definitively unique analog movement connected to a digital engine is not unique enough for obtaining patent protection!)This 👆🏽 is product design. It starts with Imagination. This is Futures work. Futures are not just sketches, PostIt Note workshops, frameworks, or trends. The kind of futures work I do connects ideas to implementations by way of implications.
