When building a trend radar, you’re not just organizing information—you’re creating a tool that helps you anticipate and navigate the future. While the sectors in your trend radar allow you to categorize trends by their origin, topic, or impact, the horizons are where the real strategic depth comes in.
Trend radar horizons provide a way to assess the timing or urgency of each trend, giving you and your team a clearer idea of when to act. Typically, the most imminent or pressing trends are placed closer to the radar’s center, making it easier to prioritize what needs attention first.
Let’s explore how you can effectively use horizons on your trend radars.
Different ways to use trend radar horizons: assess timing and urgency
Horizons are essential for giving context to the trends on your radar. They can tell you whether a trend is something to keep an eye on for the future or a trend that requires immediate action. There are various ways to structure these horizons, depending on what you want to achieve with your radar. The right horizons will give your radar the depth and clarity needed to turn foresight into actionable strategy.
Time-based horizons
One of the most common approaches is to break down horizons by impact time. For example, you might have horizons that represent trends likely to impact your business in the next 5 years, those that might become significant in 5-10 years, and long-term trends that could shape your industry 10+ years down the line. This method is great for strategic foresight and planning, ensuring you’re not caught off guard by emerging trends.
Examples:
- 3-5 years, 5-10 years, 10+ years
- Short-term, Medium-term, Long-term
- Horizon 1, Horizon 2, Horizon 3
- Now, Next, Future
- 2024, 2025, 2026
Action-oriented horizons
Another approach is to organize horizons by action steps. For instance, your radar might include horizons labeled “Act”, “Plan” and “Observe”, and which correspond to trends you should keep an eye on, those you need to start planning for, and those you should already be acting on. This structure is particularly useful for teams looking to align their trend radar with strategic foresight and planning initiatives. Technology radars often use action-oriented horizons with labels like “Adopt,” “Trial,” “Assess,” and “Hold.” This method not only helps you understand the timing but also gives clear guidance on how to respond to each trend which helps your stakeholders utilize the tech radar or trend radar more easily.
Examples:
- Act, Plan, Observe
- Adopt, Trial, Assess, Hold
- Tactical, Strategic, Systemic
Certainty-based horizons
If your goal is to gauge the level of certainty around each trend, you might opt for horizons like “Certain,” “Likely,” “Uncertain,” and “Highly uncertain.” This approach helps you manage risks by highlighting which trends are more reliable and which require closer monitoring.
Examples:
- Certain, Likely, Uncertain, Wildcard
Adoption-based horizons
Another useful framework is based on the development phase of each trend. Horizons could include “Now,” “Emerging,” “Mid-range,” and “Long-range,” indicating whether a trend is already here, just starting to take shape, or still further out on the horizon. This is particularly effective for tracking trends across different stages of maturity.
Examples:
- Now, Emerging, Mid-range, Long-range
- Legacy, Mainstream, Emerging, Embryonic
- Late, Mainstream, Early
- Scaling, Market entry, Concepting, Early discovery
- High maturity, Medium maturity, Low maturity
- Accepted, Experimental, Speculative
Custom horizons
While horizons are most often used to depict timing and urgency, not all radar visualizations need to fit into these predefined categories. In fact, some of the most innovative uses of trend radars come from thinking outside the box. With FIBRES, you have the flexibility to create custom horizons that align perfectly with your unique needs, whether you’re visualizing scenarios, future narratives, or something entirely different.
We’ve seen customers use FIBRES to map out everything from strategic options to potential disruptions in their industry, each with its own set of custom horizons. This level of customization allows you to visualize and prioritize information in a way that truly makes sense for your organization’s strategic foresight and planning efforts.
Why using too many horizons is not recommended
When setting up your trend radar or tech radar, it can be tempting to add as many horizons as possible to capture every nuance of timing and urgency. However, at FIBRES, we recommend sticking to four horizons.
Too many horizons can clutter your radar, making it harder to interpret. The central areas, representing the most immediate trends, get particularly cramped with more than four horizons.
By limiting yourself to four horizons, you ensure that your radar remains clear, focused, and easy to navigate. This structure provides enough granularity to make informed decisions without overwhelming your team with too much information.
Before you build, consider how many horizons you truly need. If you’re unsure, our team at FIBRES is here to help. We can guide you in choosing the right structure for your specific needs, ensuring that your radar is both effective and easy to use.
Conclusion
Every trend radar is typically made up of two key dimensions: sectors and horizons. While sectors help you categorize trends based on their origin, topic or impact, horizons are all about timing and urgecy. They help you communicate how urgent or imminent each trend is, which in turn guides your decision-making and strategic planning.
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to choosing horizons for your trend radar. Whether you opt for time-based horizons, action-oriented categories, or a custom structure, the key is to choose a framework that aligns with your strategic goals and helps your team understand when and how to act on emerging trends.
With our trend radar builder, you can easily create a radar that reflects your unique needs, whether you’re focusing on long-term strategic planning or immediate action steps. If you’re not yet using FIBRES and are curious about how you could best use horizons to elevate your foresight work, booking a demo is a great next step. We’d love to show you live examples and help you explore the possibilities for your own radar.
