1. Glossier campaign shows a variety of body shapes
US – Beauty brand Glossier has created a campaign around its new Body Hero collection that celebrates women of all shapes and sizes. All five of the women featured in the billboard campaign have been photographed nude to show off both their physique and their glowing skin. The women also come from a variety of backgrounds, from pregnant basketball player and Olympic Gold medallist Swin Cash Canal to plus-size model Paloma Elsesser.
Glossier, which previously focused on skincare for the face, has designed the Body Hero range, which includes a daily oil wash and a perfecting cream to be used on the rest of the body.
For more on how brands are embracing nudity as a form of female empowerment, moving beyond overtly sexualised images designed for the male gaze, see our Bare-It-All Branding microtrend.
2. Foam Studio highlights the tactility of polymeric material
Berlin – Foam Studio, the commercial arm of art collective Zeitguised, has created a new campaign for high-tech polymeric material supplier Covestro. The minute-long ad taps into Visual ASMR to highlight the visual and tactile qualities of the materials supplied by the company. A foam-like substance blossoms into a plant-like structure, while a dynamic, paint-like substance rises up to resemble branching coral.
‘In the film, invisible structures and processes are transformed into poetic expressions of colours, shapes and transformation,’ Zeitguised co-founder Henrik Mauler tells LS:N Global. ‘There is a general trend now in how dry content is presented and communicated. We have taken our trademark route of looking at inanimate objects as abstract characters with lives of their own.’
As LS:N Global explored in our Soft Aid design direction, designers are creating vibrant visual identities for brands in the science and medical industries to rebrand them as more accessible and user-friendly.
3. MADE crowdsources emerging talent
UK – Online furniture store MADE has announced plans to crowdsource and crowdfund furniture designs by emerging designers through its Talent Lab microsite. The platform, which aims to disrupt the furniture and homewares design sector, will enable creatives to submit their concepts online.
Visitors to the microsite will be able to pledge a deposit of between £5 ($6.50, €6) and £30 ($40, €34) on their favourite designs. The designs with the most pledges will go into production and will be available to buy on the MADE website. ‘Talent Lab will help shine a spotlight on creativity, helping designers to get a foothold in the industry,’ says Ruth Wassermann, design director at MADE.
Crowdsourcing platforms are increasingly being embraced by brands looking to innovate in their category such as Sephora.
4. Facebook and Condé Nast launch virtual dating show
Global – Facebook has worked with Condé Nast to create Virtually Dating, a show that sends people on virtual reality (VR) blind dates. The couples meet in real life before putting on VR headsets to be transported to a variety of far-flung, often fictional, locations, such as a post-apocalyptic world with zombies.
Bridging the divide between the physical and virtual worlds, the premise of the five-episode series is to provide an ice-breaker for couples who are then encouraged to date in the real world. Available on Facebook’s recently launched Watch platform, which will be home to a range of original shows by various media companies, Virtually Dating demonstrates the potential of digital dating, moving beyond apps such as Tinder to more engaging VR platforms.
As explored in our Courtship Crisis microtrend, although the rise of digital culture has helped to facilitate connections between people it has left many lacking the interpersonal skills required to sustain a relationship.
5. US Millennials mature into home ownership
While inflated house prices mean that Millennials have long been viewed as Generation Rent, this demographic is now beginning to command enough spending power in the US to buy their own homes. With a median household income of £61,155 ($82,000, €69,810), Millennials – now aged 27–37 – are the most likely to be home-buyers, purchasing around the age of 32. For more on how brands need to cater for US consumers who have become disenfranchised by the traditional American Dream, see our macrotrend The American Middle.
6. Thought-starter: Should brands disconnect from digital?
As consumers become overwhelmed with a plethora of digital content, video editor David McGovern explores the merits of forcing your audience offline to become more focused and captive.
Amid a raft of apps and services to help people feel more present and productive, software engineer and artist Chris Bolin has gone one step further with a web experience that can only be viewed offline. The site’s content is satisfyingly revealed when you disconnect, presenting the viewer with a text-only article that extols the benefits of not being online.
‘To maintain a constant connection to the internet is to maintain a constant connection to interruptions,’ says Bolin. We examined the erosion of our attention spans in The Focus Filter, exploring addictive digital experiences and the prevalence of skip culture. Our working lives are affected too – the American Psychological Association found that switching between activities makes us up to 40% less productive.
Consider an audience who have gone offline with your content. Not only will they admire your brave and bold direction, they will also be face to face with your content with nothing to distract them. What more could you want from your audience?
Read the full opinion piece here.