What’s In This Issue?
This Week’s Main Stories
Story 01Your Next Camera Will Retouch Your Pictures While You Take Them
Story 02How To Break Up With Your Bank Over Ethical Differences
Story 03IKEA Creates 72 Regional Versions Of Its Iconic Catalog … Here’s Why
Story 04Diamonds Are Still Forever. Especially If They Are Lab Grown
Story 05What If Smart Home Devices Sold What They Know About You?
Story 06How To Separate Macro Trends From Micro TrendsYour Next Camera Will Retouch Your Pictures While You Take Them
Starting with a set of 5,000 images that were retouched by five different photographers, Google and MIT built an algorithm that can automatically retouch a photo WHILE you take it. In a world already filled with “photoshopped” images which distort reality, advancements like this have the potential to further blur the line between real and fake and raise some interesting questions about the “truth” behind images. If my phone automatically retouches my selfie to make me look better, is that a form of lying or not?
How To Break Up With Your Bank Over Ethical Differences
In a perfect example of Passive Loyalty (a 2017 trend from Non-Obvious), this article on discusses how to break up with your bank. While changing banks is notoriously inconvenient, the author of the piece was inspired to do so because of ethical differences with his bank (Wells Fargo) and its support of the Dakota pipeline. This consumer empowerment and the desire to do business with brands that align with our beliefs is among one of the most disruptive elements of the millennial mindset, and one that will likely lead more brands to rethink what loyalty means and how to better earn it.
IKEA Creates 72 Regional Versions Of Its Iconic Catalog … Here’s Why
This week IKEA will release its new 2018 catalog, and this timely piece looks at how a small internal army of hundreds of photographers, art directors, copywriters, proofreaders, prop masters, carpenters, photo retouchers, programmers and CGI specialists make the catalog globally relevant. From zooming in on kitchen photos (because Chinese kitchens are smaller than American ones) to changing the food that appears on tables to match regional palates, the catalog is a case study in making content globally relevant.
Diamonds Are Still Forever. Especially If They Are Lab Grown
One of the side effects of social awareness among millennials is how many young brides are coming to embrace lab grown diamonds as equally beautiful but more ethically sourced alternatives to "blood" diamonds. It doesn’t hurt that the Gemological Institute of America qualifies these synthetical diamonds as “real diamonds” – but the significant discount may be the most important reason why these new man-made diamonds could take a real piece of the $80 billion diamond industry, and change the way some global economies work in the process.
What If Smart Home Devices Sold What They Know About You?
If your smart robot vacuum cleaner created a map of your home in the process of cleaning it, that data could provide new insights to help tailor smart home products to your specific living conditions. That’s the bold assertion of Colin Angle, chief executive of Roomba maker iRobot Corp. It does raise some clear privacy concerns over whether consumers will want to share that sort of data – but the potential upside (as this article explores) is very lucrative.
How To Separate Macro Trends From Micro Trends
The team at WGSN produces some great trend insights primarily in for the fashion sector and recently launched their “Anatomy of a Trend” white paper which is worth a download. One element that was particularly interesting was their distinction between macro and micro trends and how they think about trends in general. As a fellow trend curator, I suspect you’ll enjoy reading about the process they use and what lessons that might have for your own work and insights.
