**From the archives. This piece was originally published on Worldchanging.com on May 21st, 2005.**

Because we can't build what we can't imagine, envisioning a bright green future is a key piece of worldchanging work. So we're always on the look-out for new tools for helping people envision possibilities. Here's one I'm a little taken with: evidencing. Pioneered by the UK firm Livework, evidencing involves creating objects and images exploring the way a proposed design innovation will feel and work:

[We start by] mapping assumptions within and outside of an organisation about the future, and animate these ideas as tangible evidence of the future. Both negative and aspirational futures are embodied as designed touch-points. We focus as much on the effects of possible designs as the design of the service itself. Therefore evidence are not only core service touch-points, but often third parties' response to an innovation such as newspaper articles describing the results of the service. This type of "archaeology of the future" enables us to make early qualitative judgments about the implications of a design.

(Thanks, John!)