LSN : News : Stat: India’s Gen Z will outnumber Chinese youth in 2019

Sketch’s website encourages you to play with your food

London – Sketch has unveiled an interactive new platform that challenges the typical format of restaurant websites.

The Mayfair restaurant enlisted design studio Hato to create a digital world for each of its five imaginative dining rooms. Reflecting the character of each dining room, visitors to its website are presented with a colourful set of avatars, which they can select to play corresponding games.

Among these virtual pastimes is food ‘Jenga’, where players stack a selection of Sketch’s pastries, neon sign design, and the chance to create a piece of music based on the beeping sounds emitted by the restaurant’s sci-fi-inspired bathroom. The online experience also follows customers to the booking process, where diners receive a unique avatar based on their reservation requirements.

Hato’s interactive design represents a new breed of restaurant website at a time when many dining brands offer mundane sites with little by way of user experience beyond a downloadable menu. Entirely immersive websites have, until recently, been the preserve of experimental fashion companies, but Sketch is demonstrating a new direction for food and drink brands to emulate.

LDF 2018: Plasticscene addresses plastic’s positioning

Bubbles Chandelier by Chris Pearce

Bookshelf by Soft Baroque

London – Curated by Modern Design Review and artist James Shaw, the Plasticscene exhibition aims to change the perception of waste plastic and showcase the innovative, experimental and often ad-hoc methods of working with the material.

Fourteen independent design studios including Silo Studio, Jorge Penadés and Max Lamb have created a range of interior products that demonstrate how the spectrum of plastic waste available should not be used out of obligation, but viewed as an exciting resource.

Studio Thing Thing has utilised a hand-crafted approach by sorting, grinding, melting and hand extruding waste plastic to create a set of abstract sculptures, while textile brand Kvadrat has used discarded plastic bottles to create the large, sweeping curtains that divide the exhibition.

The exhibition space also houses a plastic library to highlight the 28 different types of plastics commonly used today and the subsequent challenges for designers to identify their varying properties, behaviours and uses. Plasticscene will host a serious or talks and demonstrations throughout the week to explore how plastic re-use will impact the public, private and industrial landscape.

Netflix will soon be required to create local content

EU – At least 30% of content created by streaming platforms will soon have to be locally-focused, according to a new European quota.

The law, pushed by the European Union, will have its greatest effect on Netflix and Amazon, whose media libraries will be required to cater to local audiences. According to Roberto Viola, director general of the European Commission, when the quota becomes a law in December 2018, these platforms will have commission or buy European-made shows. Alternatively, they will also have the option to contribute to national film funds.

While Viola says that Netflix is already close to meeting the 30% quota, next month the EU will publish data on how much European content each streaming site is offering.

With consumers increasingly expecting more than homogenous Hollywood content, streaming sites are already making commitments to diversify their offer and give platforms to lesser-known filmmakers. In July this year, Netflix committed to producing more original content by black creators in order to better reflect the diversity of its audience.

A Great Day in Hollywood, Netflix

The world’s first collagen clothing collection

Buki, US

Seattle – Technical sportswear brand Buki has released a range of clothing infused with collagen.

The Collagen Collection uses a beauty-inspired fabric to create high-end garments designed to moisturise and protect the skin. Unlike similar fabrics, which use topically-applied collagen, Buki uses technology to impregnate the protein into textile fibres. It has used this collagen fabric for a series of products, including a women’s turtleneck, a scarf and pillow cover.

According to the brand, wearers will also benefit from UV protection up to UPF 50 alongside the clothing’s deodorising qualities. ‘We define purpose as building wardrobes that benefit people’s everyday lives by combining state-of-the-art fibre technology with luxurious fabrics,’ says Joey Rodolfo, co-founder of Buki. ‘We are excited to extend collagen from the health and wellness category to everyday sportswear.’

To learn more about the diverse future functions of tomorrow’s materials, download our Material Far Futures report.

Stat: India’s Gen Z will outnumber Chinese youth in 2019

India Gen Z levels

A recent Bloomberg analysis found that India’s youth population will skyrocket to 472m in 2019, 51% more than China’s projected 312m.

With brands focusing their efforts on China’s influential next generation, many are overlooking the power of young people in India. Yet, with major societal shifts taking place in India, including the recent decriminalisation of homosexuality, there are growing opportunities for businesses to positively engage with its youth.

Explore how to reframe your services for young Indians with our Emerging Youth: India market or attend our upcoming Future of Youth presentation in London, where we will be comparing the behaviour of global Gen Z consumers.

Thought-starter: Who are Generation Sensible?

They hate hangovers and sidestep sugar, but are today's youth really living clean, teetotal lives? Amplify brand director Krupali Cescau delves into recent research.

Labelled Generation Sensible, are the youth of today really living sanitised lives – all clean, serene and tee-total? Much of the anecdotal evidence we see points to a virtuous generation with the lowest rates of teen-pregnancy, alcohol and drug use. But as always with this cohort of consumers, the truth is more nuanced than it first appears.

Firstly, let’s talk about what they are not indulging in: sugar. In Amplify’s 2018 Young Blood research we discovered that although 92% of young people will buy a soft drink because it tastes good, 56% will also make their selection based on sugar content. This may explain why we are seeing a surge in the sales of bottled water – which in 2017 outsold cola for the first time – as well as an increase in sugar-free alternatives.

What else are they consuming less of? Alcohol. For the young, alcohol is increasingly seen as interfering with their productivity and many argue that they simply can’t afford the down time that hangovers induce.

Read Cescau’s full opinion piece here.