🤔 Trends are questions 📜 The Vatican on A.I., 🎥 What is Limitarianism? 💼 Trend vacancies for you.
Hello my fellow trend enthusiast!
💥 To revive my newsletter over a year ago has been a very good decision.
Not only because it allows me to share the stuff I collect instead of it lingering in my notebook or catching dust in my browser’s bookmarks. But mainly because of you and all other readers who reach out, show their appreciation and whom I randomly meet at gatherings and introduce themselves as a reader (hi Julie!).
🫶 This def keeps me going because creating this newsletter is not done in a sec. Share the love by recommending it to your friends, your colleagues, your students.
Besides the usual sections in the newsletter, you’ll find a recap on Futures Friends Amsterdam, an event I’m co-organising and where future minded peeps come together and share things on their radar. Here you can see me at FF ranting about why a novel written by a woman that centers on a specific female experience is almost never seen as universally interesting literature but easily ‘dismissed’ as women-only chicklit. People without wombs, go read All Fours by !
As shared in the previous newsletter I am focussing on exploring this year and sharing my experiences (mainly via Insta). So here’s what’s up: I’ve already gone out for so-called ‘artist dates’, for example to a free classical concert and to the main public library in Amsterdam to browse their magazine section.
With regards to my personal pet project I need some advice from you about audio: any tips on what to look out for when recording audio (mainly voice) and if I would need to buy special equipment (or if a phone works wonders as well)? Hit me with your advice in the comments or mail me directly. 👇
Have a lovely day!
/ Els
Heard elsewhere
❝ Trends are not answers, but chances to ask questions.❞
Trend forecaster
dropped a very relevant article on the trends industry. As I’m a fan of questions, the sentence above caught my eye.Engaging in trends research means you must be open to randomness, ambiguity and uncertainty while many people expect exactly the opposite, that trends will provide them security and control. Read the full article by Matt for a critical lense on trends.
Futures Friends Amsterdam #2
Wow, the second edition of Futures Friends Amsterdam was sold out within a couple of hours! The 333-format of 3 signals in 3 slides in 3 minutes guarantees a kickstart of your day. The informal en small set-up allows for genuine conversations.
Very happy to organise this again for y’all with
. Big up for the bold & brave speakers: Noortje van Eekelen, , Justus Bruns, , Ali Kirby, and Erica Bol! With a surprise visit by Futures Friends OG Amy - .We might organise a next edition later this year, so stay tuned….
Go elsewhere
🌟 trend sources recommendations
📓 book - Hands-On Research for artists, designers and educators by
, Jojanneke Gijsen and . In this book the 3 authors share how they educate their art students (at WdKA in Rotterdam) in doing research. I learned about making research more tangible and material, hands-on indeed!🛠️ tool - MyMind - if you’re looking for a way to organise your signals, maybe give this platform a try. They claim you don’t need to file things, label or even tag stuff.
📜 list - AI guidelines from an unlikely source, the Vatican. They warn us to not deify AI. Snippet: “It is vital to remember that AI is but a pale reflection of humanity-it is crafted by human minds, trained on human-generated material, responsive to human input, and sustained through human labor.”
🛜 network - Rethinking Economics - A community of people who feel that our current way of teaching economics is outdated and want to turn our economics education on its head.
🗄️ database - If you are ever in need of some sci-fi inspiration to fuel your imagination, head over to Technovelgy. This database houses almost 4000 inventions, technology and ideas of science fiction writers. (Thanks to Ali Kirby for sharing this source at Futures Friends).
📝 article - Douglas Rushkoff explores the need to protect ‘pockets of weirdness’. He states that the always-on culture of the internet, influencers and a.i. makes us revert to the mean, the average. “AI produces the average response: the most likely answer, given the entire history of answers out there. It’s the opposite of creativity or improvement.” For trend research it is essential to explore the fringes, or as Rushkoff calls it “the bizarre nooks and crannies of weird”.
🏟 live events
💻 Culture Connectors - Cultural explorer Amy Daroukakis keeps initiating cool and relevant stuff like this initiative to get more and varied voices into our trend reporting. Sign up for the online meetup on February 14 to get the low-down about the project.
🇳🇱 Friday Next - Future Love - Speculative designers Next Nature organise a monthly themed event in Eindhoven. This February 14th in the evening they explore what the love of tomorrow might look like. Fun activity: you can marry your favourite object.
💻 Democracy, a long term project? The “Eye of Europe” project offers a free half-day online workshop on February 27. It will shed light on questions like: "What makes democracy last? What could it look like in the future"?
💻 World Futures Day - Young Voices. An free online annual 24-hour conversation on March 1 around the world where young people and futurists co-lead a session at every hour having conversations about the future. Hosted by Teach the Future (please donate when getting your tickets as this is a non-profit).
🇳🇱 AIxDESIGN Festival - A 3-day critical AI extravaganza on May 1-3 in Amsterdam. This is a community of people volunteering their time and effort to rethink AI in Design. They are now crowdfunding to get live streaming possible, I’ve backed them and will visit the festival. See you there?
🎥 video
During Futures Friends I hosted a 3-minute book club sharing 3 books I have been reading. One of them is Limitarianism by professor of ethics and philosophy Ingrid Robeyns. The books starting point is: if we find extreme poverty a problem that needs to be erased, why don’t we see extreme wealth as something to eradicate?
In the short video interview below professor Robeyns shares the problems extreme wealth bring about for society and what can be done about it. (In Dutch with English subs). 👇
Explore More!
Want to get inspired and update your skills in 2025? Join me at the following events:
Immersive DesignThinkers Bootcamp for Professional Innovators. In this 5-day highly interactive in-person training you will experience the Design Thinking Process. On the first day I will give a masterclass on exploring. Runs from April 7-11 in Amsterdam at DesignThinkers Academy.
Researching trends to navigate the future. Together with Service Design College and BIS Publishers I’m launching an online course on trend research. Join me for 4 online sessions running from May 8 - June 5. Introductory price now available!
/ Interested in in-company trainings or on-the-job trend coaching? More info here.
Work Elsewhere
💼 trend related jobs
⚡️ Kickstart your career in trends with the job postings below!
🔍 Even if you’re not looking to switch roles, the vacancy descriptions provide a glimpse into the ways companies work with trends.
// Senior roles
🇳🇱 Director, Trend and Design at Crocs in Hoofddorp, the Netherlands.
🇮🇹 Senior Trend Analyst at Le Pub in Milan, Italy.
// Junior/Medior roles
🇸🇬 Senior/Assistant Director (Intelligence & Futures) at the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Singapore.
🇧🇷 Trends and Insights Analyst at abler Vagas in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
🇵🇪 Trends Coordinator at Entel Peru in Lima, Peru.
🇳🇱 Culture and Insights Specialist (for the 🍦 category) at OLIVER Agency in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
🇩🇪 Trend researcher at FUTURE+YOU in Petersburg, Germany.
🇬🇧 Fashion Trend Forecaster at Urban Revivo in London, United Kingdom.
// Internships / residencies / fellowships
🇩🇪 Werkstudent:in Foresight & Trendscouting at amberra in Hamburg, Germany. You will support the development of internal foresight management and execute trend scouting. (Thanks to reader Jessica for sharing this vacancy.)
🇳🇱 Sustainability Transformation for 2030 Vision Creation (non thesis) at Philips in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
🇸🇬 Intern Intelligence & Futures at MTI (Ministry of Trade and Industry) in Singapore.
/ Let me know when you are trend hiring or spot an interesting trend vacancy. Or when you landed a job because you saw it here.👇
Sticky statement
👁 straight from the streets into your inbox
This one spotted in Utrecht is a double whammy as it combines two sticky statements.
First up: Mark Z. portrayed by Straatbehang as a zombie thirsty for your data and attention. To the right you see a sticker that says in Dutch: ‘FIND YOUR FREEDOM, become naughty’ by De Collectieve Beweging who want to turn our world in one big collective party: more beauty, more play, more mischief! Mantra for your week maybe?
/ Did you spot an interesting sticky statement and want to share it? 👇
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