#6 👩🏻🏫 Let's talk trend levels 💬 Sem Devillart on data and trends & more seeds 🌱 of inspiration.
Hello my trend friends!
Happy year of the Dragon. I’m a Snake and apparently this will be a prep year for me with an upwards momentum, as 2025 will be the year of 🐍🐍. Sounds good to me, hope you will have an upward year too!
Photo: not-angeles - VSCO
Talking about going upwards. 📈 Just recovered from a cold, as it is the season for it in the Netherlands. And it always feels so good when you’re getting fitter by the day. I see some resemblance with the emotions that thinking about the future can bring. We all know we will recover from a cold (high probability at least) but still it can feel like you’re never going to when you are in the midst of it. In the eye of the storm it is sometimes quite hard to be hopeful about the future. 🌀
Anyways, let’s dive into some monthly trend shizzle!
/ Els
Heard elsewhere
❝ Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards. ❞
Søren Kierkegaard, philosopher.
To me this quote means that you can never have complete and total knowledge to base future decisions on. As you are trying to make sense of what happened in the past you are at the same time living your life forwards. It’s a Catch-22.
Trending topic
🗣 what’s the debate about in trend circles?
There’s an on going discussion on what defines a trends. And rightfully so. Understanding the anatomy of a trend is crucial to understand what’s moving and why.
With a social studies background I’m always looking at trends from a wider societal lens and then zooming in on the human side of it.
That’s why working with the anatomy of trend levels works so well as they help you to zoom in & out on changes happening in the world.
TL;DR - Observing change through the lenses of these specific trend levels helps you analyse and understand change better. It allows you to have a deeper conversation on trends with others. Forces are the underlying drivers that go beyond the individual’s power and make their way into people’s lives slowly, gradually, almost imperceptibly. Values are shifts in desires, expectations and dreams of individuals and collectives. What mindsets and mentalities are emerging? Manifestations are the signals of change you can observe in the world around you. They are concrete and empirical evidence that a trend is emerging.
Go elsewhere
🌟 recommendations for trend sources
📜 article - The always insightful Rebecca Solnit on how change doesn't always have to be fast and furious. According to her ‘Slow Change Can Be Radical Change’.
👪 network - Designer Victoria Mulligan created the Aotearoa Futures Network Map. She says: “it is a first step in exploring the futures ecosystem in New Zealand”. The map shows NZ’s future practitioners and their relationships and interactions. Beautifully done! Can we do this for all over the world please?
🧰 toolkit - Clarice Garcia created the Fashion Futuring toolkit while doing her doctoral research at RMIT University in Australia. The toolkit encapsulates a speculative design-futuring methodology in a playful way with prompt cards and canvasses. With this toolkit Clarice hopes to move the fashion industry to a more sustainable future. What’s not to love about that?
🏟 events - On March 1 it’s World Futures Day and the amazing team of Teach the Future is hosting Young Voices. It’s a world round online conversation of and with youngsters about their visions on the future. You can join the conversation for free in your time zone.
🎥 video - The Plantiverse envisions a world where people realize that plants are our equal partners on planet earth. The Plantiverse is a virtual world by, for, and about plants. A platform in which real plants create and sell digital twin NFTrees seeding the foundation of an interspecies economy. Say what?? Check the video. 👇 It’s a speculative project by Futurity Systems.
Trend talk
🤓 insights from a trend pro
This month we ask Sem Devillart from New York four questions. Sem is a cultural analyst and strategist who works at media research lab Harmony Labs and teaches forecasting at the School for Visual Arts.
What type of trends do you look at?
I look at psychological trends that impact the next generation of stuff that people commission, mainly in media. So I translate whatever I find into real actionable themes for a book or a movie, for example, or colors for campaigns, or shapes and styles for usage in costumes, packaging, sets, and more. So the findings are soft—the identification of a mood, a vibe, a feeling, the Zeitgeist—which then informs a range products and product marketing.
How do you combine qualitative trend research with quantitative data?
It’s less about mixing qualitative research with quantitative research and far more about applying qualitative methods AND quantitative ones on the very data, or set of signals. A signal can be looked at from a quantitative perspective as much as a from a qualitative one. Data analytics are getting smarter and cheaper, which enables us to read signals from many more angles. It’s thrilling.
Any tips on how to successfully navigate analytics overload?
Sometimes it’s more efficient to understand the network or associations around just one signal, rather than concentrating in harvesting tons of signals. The weight of the signals is equally important. Sometimes a signal that is embraced by the mainstream can actually bring in more intel than a small niche signal. The reason is that the energy around a phenomenon in culture is not just based around its novelty factor, but also around its mindshare, something that we can measure more and more. The next is always embedded in the now. A signal that is strong in its mindshare builds the foundation for what will come next.
How do you use the insights emerging from the data to inform decision making?
Translating findings into decision support systems and emergent strategies to guide client work is what I enjoy most. It relies on a strong capacity for listening, learning, and, strangely enough, synesthesia. I grew up between six languages in 4 continents, so that also helped build my muscle for quickly understanding what people want and need and how to fit that to a client’s goals.
🌟 Thanks Sem for sharing your view on trends with us! Want to know more about Sem? Read this article about her.
Work elsewhere
💼 trend related jobs
Even if you’re not looking to switch roles, the vacancy descriptions provide a glimpse into the ways companies work with trends. 🔍
Senior roles
🇺🇸 Assistant Director - To help museums navigate future challenges at the Centre for the Future of Museums in Virgina.
🇬🇧 Creative Director - Who can shape the vision of digital culture and innovation lab FutureEverything in Manchester.
🇺🇸 Senior manager Strategic Foresight & Future Visions - A self-starter with entrepreneurial spirit at Pepsico Design in New York
Junior/Medior roles
🇪🇺 Policy Analyst - Inform policy making with foresight at the EU PolicyLab of the European Commission. Position for 3 years in Brussels. (Thanks Erica for sharing!)
🇬🇧 Business Development Manager - Salesy entry level function at the Future Laboratory selling subscriptions to their platform.
🇬🇧 Researcher / Junior Editor - Enthusiastic researcher and writer with a deep cultural curiosity at trend agency Stylus in London.
Open Calls
🌍 3 Research Fellowships - For African researchers at the Megatrends Afrika Project. A grant that covers three months of research into African societal challenges. (Thanks Doutje for sharing this one!)
🇺🇸 Innovator in residence - Creative visionary to help the public connect with digital library materials at the Library of Congress. It’s funding for a creative project for 2 years and you can work remotely.
🌏 Speculative artists, designers, scientists, writers and visual storytellers - To imagine the most daring new ideas about the changing relationship between humans, nature and technolog at Next Nature. Providing a realisation fee for your project of €15000.
/ Let me know when you are trend hiring or spot an interesting trend vacancy. 👇
Sticky statement
👁 straight from the streets into your inbox
Seen on the streets in Amsterdam. Made me stop because I was confused about what ‘No Master’ had to do with the milk and meat. Looking it up online it’s apparently a vegan-anarchist version of the anarchist slogan 'No Gods No Masters’. Haha, let’s riot and create chaos 🌪️ whilst eating a vegan croissant.
/ Did you spot an interesting sticky statement and want to share it? 👇
