Manta Ethos, at your fingertips
- Mar 21
- 4 min read
Problem owners: Ethos Soluciones de Software
Process owners: 5 industrial design students, part of the course Design project: technology and innovation, at the Pontifical Xavierian University and one professional designer from Solutions Group
Part of the research project of Ricardo Mejia Sarmiento: Vision Concepts for Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Developing a Design-Led Futures Technique to Boost Innovation
Supervisory team: Promotors Prof. dr. P.J. Stappers (Pieter Jan) and Prof. dr. H.J. Hultink (Erik Jan). Daily Supervisor Dr. G. Pasman (Gert). Mentor Dr. E. Karana (Elvin).
Completion Date: September 2016, Colombia
Challenge
Designers made this vision concept as part of the evaluation of DIVE. It is a design-led futures technique that assists designers in making and sharing vision concepts for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Its development began with an inquiry into concept cars in the automotive industry and concept products and services in other industries. We then combined the insights derived from these design practices with elements of the existing techniques of critical design and design fiction into the creation of DIVE’s preliminary first version, which was then applied and evaluated in two iterations with SMEs, resulting in DIVE’s alpha version. This vision concept acts as a probe that explores a new territory, the speculative future of Ethos Soluciones de Software.
Ethos Soluciones de Software is a Colombian small-sized enterprise with more than twenty years of experience developing software solutions in technology for a variety of specialized markets in financial portfolio and placements or deposits. Present in five countries, including offices in Colombia, Costa Rica, and the USA, the company compresses a variety of software experts —architects, programmers, and developers— that develop applications for diverse platforms. Although the company has been historically managed by engineers and does not have a formal design department, it has participated in different programs related to design and innovation, such as the Integral Design Tutoring Project of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism of Colombia. In this four-months project, a team of designers accompanied Ethos transferring knowledge about human-centered design. As a follow-up to this program and entirely funded by Colciencias –a government agency that supports fundamental and applied research in Colombia–, the company developed a mobile application together with a design agency.
Due to a significant trajectory of almost 23 years, participants perceived Ethos as “a giant oceanic manta ray who navigates in international waters, between narrow seas and deep oceans.” His eyes and the spiracles are on the side of a big head, which contains advanced knowledge of software development. His main sources of movement are two large pectoral fins that extend from a flat muscular dorsal surface, a large team of experienced engineers, and a ventral surface, a small portfolio, under which a little school of fishes, looking for protection, swim. He also has a long and whip-like tail. The participants selected 2026 as the time frame for this exploration that investigate the domain of “efficient interaction with the information of the Family Welfare Funds.”
Purposes
Ethos then needs a new vision of a desirable future, genuinely informed by its values, that help him to better navigate. A vision that:
inspires ideas about the future of the business
choose the strategic direction of the company
understand how to implement new technology
Process
As part of this exploration, participants set a vision in which “Ethos responds to the virtual interaction between the Family Welfare Funds and their clients with guarantees in security and immediacy in the transmission of data.”
Activities: DIVE: setting a domain, defining a vision, creating the vision concept, and making the video. Moreover, designers have used the video to discuss the future with the company representativesLength: three days in the whole project
Length: three days in the whole project
Budget: they spent less than 50 Euros making the prototype
Results
In view of this statement and playing with the metaphor of the manta ray, the designers made the vision concept Manta Ethos at your fingertips. This futuristic service aims to help the users of the Family Welfare Funds managing their finances more intelligently. It joins the funds with the users through a mobile application controlled by a smart card. Both the application and the card work together to manage the savings, investment funds, and other financial services but always having in mind the more beneficial scenario for the user. The final video that presents this vision concept to the company representative, tells the story of Hugo, a Family Welfare Fund’s user. As part of the planning of his holidays, he used the card in combination with the application to check the possible destinations given his financial situation and personal preferences. Following a simple protocol, he chooses a place and thus plans in advance the costs and the way to manage them.
Using the existing application Integra as the starting point in the world as it is, the participants develop several recommendations for Ethos. Participants considered that above all things, Ethos needs to gain more and better insights on the end-users to be a potent mediator between the funds and their clients. The company also needs to focus more on the human-centered interaction of its applications to facilitate the integration and understanding of financial information for people, who are not necessarily familiar with all the abstraction of this data.
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