🦹♂️ Values are the super powers! 🎥 Why minimalism is boring. 🎪 Loads of trend events to join. 🌟
Hello trend friend!
I’ve been travelling cross-country to deliver trend trainings and guest lectures the past months. What still strikes me is that participants are often blown away when learning that trends are mainly about understanding VALUES.
What I often see happening in organisations is:
people focussing on signals and hypes, such as new products or styles - because these are very visible and shiny. ✨ (commercial b2c companies often have the tendency to focus on the concrete and the very visible).
OR
people focussing on driving forces of change, such as globalisation, individualisation - because these are abstract and distant ✋ (public organisations like governments, municipalities etc. feel VERY comfortable with these).
Whereas the true superpower of working with trends is understanding the underlying motivations, desires, dreams and nightmares of people: their values and needs. Because these in the end drive their behaviours and actions.
It also helps to think about your own values. You can use models like Shalom Schwartz’s Values Map to reflect on this. 👇
Do you already feel drawn to some of the values above? Which do you recognise the most in yourself? Which resonate with you? (Pssst…🤫 mine are mostly in the yellow section: self-direction).
As we approach the end of 2024 it can be an insightful activity to ponder about your own values and how you can make them more central in 2025 and beyond.
I’m going into hibernation in December 💤, see you again somewhere in January!
/ Els
Heard elsewhere
❝ A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.❞
Dwight D. Eisenhower, former president of the USA
Don’t believe the hype!
It’s that time of the year again when all kinds of predictions for 2025 are sprinkled around like fairy dust.
Time to share my blog again on how to deal with these trend lists and reports. Because do trends really suddenly change at the turn of the year??
⬇️👇⬇️👇⬇️👇⬇️👇⬇️👇⬇️👇⬇️👇⬇️👇⬇️👇⬇️👇⬇️👇
Go elsewhere
🌟 recommendations for trend sources
🛠️ tool - Sublime. People often ask me for recommendations for database systems to file their trend signals. Sublime seems an interesting new archiving tool on the block. I also like the founders’ take on anything tech, like this article on embracing slow AI instead on focusing on speed.
💻 course - De Nationale Toekomstcursus / The National Future Course has just launched in the Netherlands. It’s a free online course (in Dutch) where you’ll learn the fundamentals of futures thinking. Maybe an inspiration for other countries to also launch one?
📕 books
Perimeter - Just found out about this Australian bookstore, publisher and distributor and want to order ALL of their books. 😅 I’ve just ordered this one: ‘Research for people who (think they) would rather create’. Haha, curious to see what the contents will be!
Tricky Times: Navigating the Messy Middle of Change - Love this book by Dutch anthropologist Jitske Kramer in which she unravels the complexities of transformations and cultural change.
For all my peri-menopausal buddies out there I can recommend All Fours, a novel by Miranda July which takes you on a hormonal rollercoaster ride.
/ Already worrying that there are too many books to read and too little time? Read this short article on creating an anti-library, a collection of unread books. 😜
🎨 exhibition - Future Fossils - January 23–April 13, 2025 at MAAM in Boston, USA. Too bad I don’t live around the corner, would have loved to visit this expo. It presents a possible future view of the present, a moment frozen in time and culture.
🏟 live events
🇳🇱 State of Futures - In-person gathering of Futures Thinking & Foresight practitioners in Rotterdam on December 7, 2024. This is your chance to connect, discuss the state of the field, and get to know each other better. Hosted by Happy Futures Lab.
🇳🇱 Toekomstdenkers LIVE - Free in-person event in Amsterdam, The Netherlands on December 11, 2024 (in Dutch) about the designers’ role in shaping the future of climate, digitalisation and equality.
🇩🇪 La Futura - Global Conference for futurists and innovation managers in Munich, Germany on December 12-13, 2024. Topic of this year is anti-fragility.
🇮🇹 Designing Retail & Services Futures Colloquium on 14-15 May, 2025 in Milan Italy. Academic event that aims to share knowledge related to retail and service design. Main topic is sustainability.
🇳🇴 Katapult Future Fest in Oslo, Norway on May 21-23, 2025. A central gathering for impact investors, change-makers, and entrepreneurs dedicated to social, cultural, and systemic change.
🎥 video
I attended a conversation with American journalist, critic and author Becca Rothfeld during Brainwash Festival. She takes on the provocative notion that we should embrace chaos, messiness and maximise our experiences. Bye, bye Marie Kondo and minimalism!
I will read Becca Rothfeld’s book ‘All things are too small’ during my hibernation period. Let’s see if and how that might change my mindset….
Here’s a 20-minute interview with her. 👇
Explore More!
Want to get inspired and update your skills in 2025? Join me at the following events:
Future Friends Amsterdam is happening again! Hosted by Stefanie Schillmoller and moi. A gathering of future minded professionals with short presentations on signals of change. Save the date: Friday morning January 31st from 9 AM - 10.30 AM. Tickets will be available in January. I’ll keep you in the loop.
Immersive DesignThinkers Bootcamp for Professional Innovators. In this 5-day highly interactive training you will EXPERIENCE the Design Thinking Process. Own the first day I will give a masterclass on EXPLORING. Runs from April 7-11 in Amsterdam.
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 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
🇪🇸 Senior Strategic Anthropologist at A Piece of Pie in Barcelona. Looking for a professional who can independently run mid-to-large scale projects with mixed methods research, insight development, and strategy development mainly in the topic of healthcare.
🌍 Behavioral Researchers & Strategists / Lead Consultants at Appleseed. At this behavioral agency for poverty-fighting organisations you try to figure out what makes people tick. Hiring for an initial project lasting ~4months, with the opportunity to join the Appleseed core team permanently. Hybrid work in e.g. the African region.
Junior/Medior roles
🇬🇧 🇮🇪 🇯🇵 Creative Insights Manager at Getty in either London, Dublin or Tokyo. As part of the Creative Team you provide customers with contemporary visuals and actionable insights that guide customers to the visual content that connects with consumers. (Visual) trend research is part of the daily work.
🇮🇹 Senior Market Research Analyst Consumer Products EMEA (Temporary) at Mattel in Milan. One for the data crunchers: for a 2 years project based in Milano looking for someone that can deliver accurate, insightful analysis to drive consumer-based decision making.
🇮🇪 Business Analyst Planning & Forecasting at Primark in Dublin. The Planning and Forecasting BA will be responsible to identify and shape business capability into key requirements. Side note: please help change this company from the inside and be the undercover mole.
Internships / residencies / fellowships
🇳🇱 Food Design Internship at studio Katja Gruijters in De Steeg, The Netherlands. Includes creative work based around food like graphic design, research, concept development, experiments, and production.
🇳🇱 AI X Business Internship at Trendwatching.com in Amsterdam. Spot and try out new AI tools and apps. Work with the product development team on adapting these tools to TrendWatching's internal processes.
🇬🇧 Junior Trends and Insights Researcher at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in London. CAA is an entertainment and sports agency. As an intern you’ll conduct research to identify emerging trends and changing consumer behaviours and actively participate in brainstorming sessions.
/ 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
Saw this one lingering on the streets of the interwebs, always makes me smile.
/ Did you spot an interesting sticky statement and want to share it? 👇
🎁 Looking for a Christmas present? 🎁
Gift the book ‘How to Research Trends’ to the change makers, innovators, designers, researchers, creatives, strategists and policy makers in your network.
wow, I believe this book was made for me >> Research For People Who (Think They) Would Rather Create
Great read for the weekend! thank you Els!