Ideas I’m tracking below. Before we get into that odyssey…. please note, I have a free retail conference next week - (come!), my PSFK team has a new free and a paid newsletter offering (subscribe!), and the researchers behind it all are looking for some new trends/futures consulting & thought leadership work to do. (ping me!).
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Outside Influence
Artist responds to the charred Californian landscape with music . “Sometimes just communicating a mood is sufficient, all an instrumental piece needs to do… but it can also convey this complex array of associations and images.”
Trapped indoors, Bogota musicians record the wildlife outside their windows and use it to inspire techno recordings.
I mention rewilding a lot - often in connection with agriculture or rural areas. This piece in the Guardian looks at its application in cities like Malmo - an earlier piece in the same pub looks at rewilding efforts in Barcelona.
Biocyclic - I didn’t know what that was. It’s a growing food movement based on pure-plant-based agriculture that maybe we should all dig into.
Thinking About Ways To Communicate Better
This has an impact for all of us making content - whether video material or just business emails: Netflix research finds that people decide within 5 seconds whether to keep watching a show
In the last email, I talked about why we should look at gaming service Twitch as comms platform. If you want to take another step into this world of multi-stream, multi-directional interaction, it’s worth checking out Discord. This piece looks at how the platform is filling the void left by Reddit for Day Traders.
Here’s one way to look at how to sell: “Marketing is Seduction and Commerce is Sex for e.l.f. CMO Kory Marchisotto” I guess that’s why so many of us are doing it so badly.
Vans takes content realtime with a livestream network that aims to inspire communities and support local artists and creatives.
Talking hype…. there are interesting insights in this piece in Quartz on why celebrity brands work (or fail) - quick answer: “lines centered on a celebrity tend to perform better… in the mass market [and] when celebrity-founded luxury companies have succeeded it’s been through a focus on product and not so much the fame of the founders.”
Avoiding Wasted Space on Your Website
How to be a good moderator (qk answer: you work for the audience)
The Way Things Look From Here
Angular. Obviously, Tesla’s truck (concept??) has presented a different approach to car design - but I’ve been noticing more angular design over the last couple of weeks: an angular trailer, an angular store with angular furniture and an angular cabin.
Soft. There’s something going on with soft decor: A Mexican artisan makes wall furnishings that are both ceramic and fabric. A London designer creates soft sculpture pieces - and a Danish chef pivots to make crochet art for walls.
Afroasiatic. Connecting Japan and Nigeria to create a culinary product range.
Ariel font in a PPT style: Building a youth focused brand identity
Product hack might give some future design trend cues : Smart speaker hack as a Mandalorian helmet.
More design cues: the Polybrute synth hints at a return of nobs and buttons and dials and, I guess, touch.
Maybe athleisure needs this: Why Juicy Coulture is back. “Whether that’s the comfort of nostalgia or the supple touch of velour — it’s time to get comfy…”
A Look At Culture
There has been no better time to celebrate Black History Month. I’m trying to better invest my time by deep-diving into films like Black Art: In the Absence of Light, read content like how the BLM movement saved hundreds of lives, reading about the design philosophy of products like that “afroasiatic” culinary product range, or delving into lives of people I don’t know of like Danny Ray, a man who spent his life hyping James Brown. There’s plenty to be inspired by.
Why we want ‘Nice’. An analysis of sitcoms that argues that “being kind doesn’t make you a chump.”
“Why managing others' dating apps is so damn fun”
First” Vegan Junk Food Tasting Menu, Sells Out in 48 Hours - of course you want to click.
“A FedEx driver hand-crafting soaps. A hairstylist hawking porkless bao buns. A restaurant manager repurposing denim jackets.” Even folks behind the ideas I refer to in this newsletter have pivoted their creative careers. Wanna do the same? Check: How to Turn Your Hobby Into Your Careers in the NYT.
American Brand Qualities: By living in Central America right now, I see how locals (and Gringos) view USA-made brands as luxury, quality items - just as North American residents might compare German and some Japanese brands with their US and Canadian made. So, it’s interesting for me to note how a new exhibit in NYC argues that American home furnishing design has eclipsed European. Also, do note that China’s Alibaba is currently running a proud Buy USA campaign.
PPT again: How to host a PowerPoint party / virtual game night with Microsoft Office
Online to Off: The Sims Made Me Realize I'm Ready for More In Life
How TikTok is spreading communism
On Where We Live
Dreamscapes: Just because….. Pavilion on French river created with “no specific purpose other than allowing passersby to be pleasantly lost and daydream.” . Connected: inflatable, ring-shaped installation for empty urban spaces. Slightly connected, this design agency’s ‘Architecture of Silence’ .
Experiential: field of lights celebrates agriculture in Holland. Candlelight ballads in London.
Why SoHo Struggles and Indie Shops in Brooklyn Are Doing Fine - (do you even need to know the answer - ok, ok, here it is : “The lessons would seem obvious — that neighborhoods do best when they evolve organically in sync with the people who live in them. They cannot be manufactured as if real life were Minecraft.”
Nissan concept camper van gives digital nomads a surfy workation - Oh and there’s an Airsteamer on F-co - “a remote work paradise” ….. reminds me about my Future of Home Living 2030 report where I talked about the multiple uses of cars, beyond transport.
The Endlessly Tweaking of Retail
Obvs, we’ve all been tracking Amazon in-store seamless-shopping tech for a while. This piece about the new Amazon Fresh store in Chicago hints at how the tech firm is making moves into loyalty space.
Another thing about living outside the US right now is the massive use of WhatsApp as a platform for shoppers, brands and retailers to interact and transact. This piece about Lidl connecting customers to employees in Ireland therefore stood out to me.
Biometric payments in hotel conveniences stores ( includes scan of links in customers’ palm veins).
To celebrate the Year of the Ox, restauranteur of Covid-closed London venue partners with AR artist (and Booze co) to create interactive art piece.
Not quite retail but worth looking at as it provides some good future vision …. Non Fungible Tokens. Fred Wilson talks here about the use of crypto to create unique and traceable pieces of art.
Quick Links To Note
Lego first dates (via LeanLuxe)
Poshmark is now doing pets
They worked out how to lift stuff up just using light.
United is investing $1bn in 4 person air-taxis
London claims Alexander Hamilton with a self guided tour of his connections with the capital.
Coke tests paper bottle
Intel’s origin story told in a 1983 issue of Esquire - (via Makezine)
- Thanks -
Piers
PSFK / Retail Innovation Week / Wallkit / #Distracted: