How flashforwards can convey your company messages?

Visual
6 March 2025

Mathilde Pottier

Designer & Founder

What if you knew what was going to happen tomorrow? This was the starting point for Early Edition (1996-2000), a cult series from the 90s in which Gary Hobson, an ordinary man, receives a tomorrow’s paper every morning. Announcements of accidents, fires, tragedies to come: each edition gives him 24 hours to act. But this capacity for anticipation is not a superpower. Gary has no total control and no certainties. He acts blindly, on the basis of a hypothetical future, in an uncertain present. This flashforward mechanism – seeing before acting – opens up a wider area for reflection: what would we do if we knew? And what does this projection of the future reveal about the way we make decisions today? Between fictional accounts, cognitive biases and innovation strategies, Early Edition becomes a gateway to a wider question: what does it mean to anticipate – personally, morally and collectively?

Early edition, the flashforward serie

Gary Hobson daily life

Chicago in, late 90s. Every morning at dawn, Gary Hobson discovers a newspaper that no other citizen can read: tomorrow’s paper. Delivered to his doorstep by a mysterious cat, this daily newspaper from the future announces accidents, crimes, and disasters. And he has 24 hours to act. Gary is neither a hero nor a scientist, just an ordinary man faced with an extraordinary responsibility. Unlike classic time travel stories, he can’t replay the game. He only gets one chance each time. This simple but effective narrative framework allows the series Tomorrow on the Front Page (Early Edition, 1996-2000) to explore moral and human dilemmas between urgency and uncertainty. Each episode becomes a variation on the same starting point: what do you do when you know what’s going to happen – and you can neither forget it nor avoid it?

The flashforward construction

Each episode of Early Edition follows an almost unchanging pattern. The next day’s paper arrives, revealing an accident, a murder, a fire. Gary reads it, understands the urgency and sets off. The flash-forward serves as a starting point but never as a guarantee. What he reads is one possible version of the future – it’s up to him to counter it. He investigates, tries to understand the context, and identifies the people involved. But his attempts don’t always lead to the expected result. A gesture too soon, a word misinterpreted, and the situation gets worse. In one episode, he tries to prevent a fire: by intervening too soon, he creates panic and makes the danger worse. The structure shows that knowing the future is not the same as controlling it. Every intervention poses a dilemma. The real tension comes not from the ‘what’ but from the ‘how’ – and at what cost.

The flashforward consequences

Receiving tomorrow’s newspaper every morning is not a quiet gift. For Gary Hobson, it’s an accumulating burden. Every headline, every article, foretells misfortune to come. He soon realises that to do nothing is to accept that these tragedies will happen. But taking action carries its risks. A poorly calibrated decision, a move too soon, too late, and the future is rearranged – sometimes for the worse. Gary lives in a moral limbo: guilty if he doesn’t act, responsible if he does. This constant tension leads to isolation, doubt and moral fatigue. He can’t share what he’s going through. Even those closest to him remain distant, unable to understand. In some episodes, the dilemma becomes personal: should he save someone close to him at the risk of sacrificing others? The show doesn’t always answer this question. But it does raise a haunting question: Can we control the future?

The flashforwards influence on decision-making

Optimism bias: an idealized future

In our minds, the future is often easier than it will be. The optimism bias leads us to believe that everything will be fine, that we will be more efficient, more organised, more lucid than we are today. This mental mechanism has its virtues: it encourages us to move forward, to take action. But it can also blind us by minimising the real obstacles. A student who is convinced that he or she will have “time to revise” puts off work without worrying until the deadline arrives, unprepared. An entrepreneur starts a project on the assumption that each stage will be completed without delay or error, only to see his timetable explode at the first complication. In both cases, the imagined future becomes a deceptive refuge. It’s not just a matter of hope but of a distorted mental construction that transforms the personal flash-forward into an idealised scenario, more flattering than plausible.

Jr Korpa

Catastrophic bias: an anxiety-inducing flash forward

Imagining the future can be motivating, but it can also be inhibiting. Some people systematically project the worst possible scenario to the point of locking themselves into it. This catastrophic bias is often the result of poorly digested negative experiences. It instils the idea that every past failure is a harbinger of a failed future and that every attempt is too risky. For fear of shame, disappointment or failure, action is postponed and then avoided. Someone refuses to speak in public because they are convinced they stammer – when in fact the mistake is minimal and quickly forgotten. Another person turns down a job for fear of not being up to the job, even though they have solid skills. This anxiety-provoking flashback doesn’t anticipate; it prevents. By preparing for the fall, we stop trying to climb. The future becomes a minefield, not because it’s dangerous, but because we imagine it’s already lost.

The illusion of control: the belief of controllable future

Imagining the future also means trying to tame it. The illusion of control leads us to believe that everything can be anticipated, regulated and secured by our will alone. This bias is comforting but deceptive. It forgets that the future also depends on external, often uncontrollable variables. An athlete trains rigorously, thinking he has planned everything to win, but an injury, a gust of wind or an unexpected opponent is enough to change the outcome. A traveller plans every stage, every connection, every accommodation – only to be faced with a delay, a strike or an unforeseen closure. In both cases, the frustration comes not from failure but from the gap between what was imagined and what happened. The more control seems total, the more painful it is to lose it. Illusion does not protect: it debilitates. It turns the future into a rigid project, whereas it is by its very nature unpredictable.

Apple: a flash forward company

Headspace

The Apple foundation

Since its founding in 1976, Apple has built its success by looking ahead. The company doesn’t just follow trends; it anticipates them. Steve Jobs and then Tim Cook have always focused on a clear vision of the future, even if it means taking risks. In 2001, Apple launched the iPod and iTunes, betting on the end of the physical CD at a time when records still sold in the millions. In 2007, the company introduced the iPhone, a phone without a physical keyboard that was connected and touch-sensitive – a breakthrough at the time, but now standard. This ability to anticipate future uses rather than react to the market as it is is part of the brand’s DNA. Apple doesn’t wait for needs to be expressed: it anticipates, imagines and creates them. And even if this strategy means failure, it is based on a simple conviction: the future belongs to those who dare to make it.

Flashforward, a tool for innovation

At Apple, innovation is based not on an expressed need but on a vision. The company imagines how uses will evolve and then designs its products according to that vision. This ‘flash-forward’ approach means that radical decisions sometimes have to be made. Apple does not hesitate to eliminate technologies that are still widely used, believing that they are already a thing of the past. In 2016, the disappearance of the jack on the iPhone provoked ridicule and criticism. A few years later, however, the majority of the market followed suit. In the same way, Apple is betting on wireless charging, the transition to USB-C and, above all, on its own Apple Silicon chips, abandoning Intel. These decisions are not reactions; they are anticipations. Apple does not want to follow the market, it wants to lead it. In this model, the future is not a threat to be anticipated but a terrain to be built on – even if it means disrupting the present.

The long-term consequences of this visionary approach

Anticipating the future also means making mistakes. At Apple, the visionary approach is based on bets. And not all bets are won. An over-ambitious flash forward can be ahead of its time or clash with established practice. The MacBook, launched too early and lacking traditional USB ports, was rejected by some members of the public, forcing Apple to reintroduce certain ports. Conversely, the iPad, which was greeted with scepticism at launch, ended up redefining the tablet as a category in its own right. This back-and-forth is not unusual in the history of the brand. Apple takes criticism but perseveres. The dramatic irony lies in this paradox: the most controversial decisions often end up being copied. What is considered brutal today becomes the quiet standard tomorrow. In the long run, this strategy builds more than just a product: it shapes the environment in which it operates. The future is not predicted here. It is imposed.

A flashforward conclusion

To anticipate is to want to control what does not yet exist. In Early Edition, this desire takes the form of a magical diary; in real life, it is embodied in our daily choices, our projects, our bets on the future. But the illusion of control persists. Whether it’s personal precaution or industrial strategy, imagining tomorrow carries risks: the risk of deceiving ourselves, of creating unnecessary anxiety, or of trying too hard to control the unpredictable. Apple uses this as a lever for success, but sometimes at the cost of divisive decisions. Gary Hobson, on the other hand, discovers every day that to act on the future is also to risk upsetting its equilibrium. So, Flashforward is not a promise of mastery, but a mirror held up to our capacity for interpretation, doubt and choice. In the end, the real question may not be: What will happen?” but rather “What will I do now that I know?