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Waterworld: New design encourages thoughtful use of water

Considered design is helping to improve awareness of our consumption of limited resources. David Weatherhead’s new water-powered timers, shown at the 2008 London Design Festival, encourage a more efficient use of water and energy by making users aware of how long they spend in the bathroom.

The hanging shower timer is a hooked water container with a small hole in its base that dispenses water for five minutes – the maximum amount of time one should spend in the shower before a bath becomes more water and energy efficient. The toothbrush cup uses a similar principle to encourage good dental habits, dispensing a precise amount of water to measure the length of time one should spend brushing his or her teeth – any more and the brushing becomes counterproductive.

As they represent time in what Weatherhead calls ‘the wet environment’, the designs serve to make consumers aware of their use of natural resources while also helping those who want to keep track of the rising costs of utilities.

Interactive programmes: TV gets sociable

Social television, a new interactive method of watching tv, draws viewers into programmes further than before. Playing on the social aspect of Web 2.0 and the growth of the tv/internet crossover, internet tv offers an experience that is not only live but can also be shared among fellow fans of the show.

Cable television network MTV has launched Backchannel, an online social gaming service that allows web viewers to interact with others watching the same tv show. Viewers log in to the MTV website during the show’s broadcast, then exchange comments and messages with fellow fans as they react to the show’s unfolding plot. Participants rate one another’s comments by tagging them; those who get the most tags move further up the leader board.

The first programme to use the game on Backchannel is The Hills, a reality series that follows the lives of a group of LA teenagers. So the next time Lauren harps on about her muddled love life to the vacuous-looking Whitney, users online will simultaneously remark on the scene with one another as the show progresses. Not only does this new format strengthen the relationship fans have with the show, it also helps to create relationships between fans. Importantly, this interactive format could well bring back the ‘event tv’ much missed by programmers and advertisers.

Cold storage: London clinic offers free egg freezing

As people increasingly reconsider the assets they were born with, seeing them as opportunities with which to make money, we are witnessing a growing phenomenon: body economics. A new initiative by the Bridge Centre, a fertility clinic in Central London, offers women who wish to delay motherhood the chance to freeze their eggs for free. The process typically costs up to £5k. To qualify for freezing at no cost, however, participating women will have to give away half their eggs to infertile couples.

Women are now becoming mothers later in life – married women are now having their first child six years later than they did in the 1970s, according to the UK Office for National Statistics – and this new ‘freeze and share’ programme is set to further fuel the trend.

Having natural physical attributes or capabilities that are sought after by others evidently has economic benefits; with advances in medical technology, the trend is set to grow further. If someone wants a new ear in your skin tone, why not grow one on your back and sell it to him or her? (For more on this, see Viewpoint 22: Our Synthetic Future.)

Digital writing: New digi-pen to help millions in Africa

A new electronic pen and pad from South Africa-based tech developer Xcallibre is helping African governments to collect vital agricultural information that could potentially help to avert future food crises.

The pen and pad can be used by farmers in remote locations to provide up-to-date information about the state of their crops and livestock. The data is easily sent via Bluetooth to a mobile phone, and is then automatically transmitted to a government GPRS server. The data collection process used to take up to three months, with a normal pen and pad, and meant that official decisions were being made with outdated information.

The lack of existing infrastructure and a strong global outlook mean that developing countries are increasingly able to leapfrog the technological teething problems developed nations may face. This makes the region a great large-scale testing ground for new products, as there are no over-complicated formatting issues amongst a largely tech-free people. What’s more, Westernised devices, such as mobile phones, are being adapted in new and innovative ways far removed from their designers’ original intentions.

Room at the inn: Swedish hotel offers free rooms for creative visitors

Creative professionals, increasingly valued by businesses as economies continue to shift towards more conceptual horizons, are now being offered free shelter while travelling. Swedish clothing brand Elvine has founded Creators Inn in Gothenburg to offer free accommodation to visiting creators – interested guests just have to prove they are creative enough to deserve it.

Potential guests register on the hotel’s website, explaining in one sentence why they should be granted free accommodation at the inn. The initiative comes courtesy of sponsorship through partnerships with local event organisers, and helps creatives to travel more freely while also boosting the appeal of the city. This Freesumerism model encourages the mobility of those unable to afford the costs of travel, and helps to keep creatives flexible in business.

Cheapening the competition: Tesco introduces super-discount brands

New discounted brands are appearing in the aisles of major supermarkets as the consumer appetite for cheap goods continues amid recessive economic conditions. In a bid to fight back against the ever-increasing market share of value supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl, British supermarket chain Tesco has introduced a 350 product-wide range of cheap branded items marked ‘Discount brands at Tesco’.

Although long-term benefits of discounting are in contention – with evidence that brand equity is lost with the lowering of product prices – cheap ranges are currently a crucial section of FMCG as customers cut back on their weekly spend.

This new range is a temporary solution to gain ground against discount retailers, but may have an adverse effect on branding in the long term – giving consumers the idea that Tesco, too, is a discounter. Introducing lower-priced goods may be a savvy move in the short term, but Tesco may well face new challenges in promoting its premium ranges once the economy returns to normal, if the brand is firmly cast in consumers’ minds as a discounter.

Narrowing the choice: A limited offering at The School of Life

Choice architecture is increasingly being used by policy makers and retailers to influence consumer behaviour. New retail models see a switch to offering limited ranges for sale, turning on its head the traditional view that more choice is better. The School of Life, a new store in London, is taking a curated approach to product range by offering a very limited selection of goods for sale.

Backed by a group of authors including Alain de Botton, the shop will feature no more than 55 titles at any one time in its books section. By narrowing its customers’ options, the store helps avoid confusion and overly complicated purchasing decisions – much like Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein theorise in their book, Nudge, in which they discuss steering (or nudging) consumers into making the right choices.

After years of huge stores made efficient through scale economies, a new model upending this is starting to grow, purposefully reducing ranges, and proving that more choice is not always better.

From the source: Transparency turns to a different kettle of fish

Embracing the trend for transparency, some makers of synthetic products are beginning to reveal the provenance of otherwise mysteriously sourced items. Cenovis, a producer of nutritional supplements in Australia, is now promoting the ethical sourcing of the fish oils used in its supplements. The fish oil supplements are carefully sourced, Cenovis says, and adhere to restrictions such as predominantly using small fish varieties that have a short life cycle and a high fertility rate to ensure stocks are regularly replenished.

Big money: Slate launches business news website

Intuitive financial news could help laypeople keep up with the latest economic developments, particularly in these uncertain times. Slate, one of America’s leading alternative news websites, has just launched a financial news site, The Big Money, which aims to attract a new group of readers by offering business journalism in a more intuitive and universally approachable form. In addition to accessible financial stories, the site offers several tools, such as interactive video content and a system that ranks socially responsible stocks, to engage readers in an alternative analysis of the financial markets.

Make it matter: Putting brands into willing hands

A new direct mail marketing concept from the UK’s Royal Mail is helping to put targeted advertising material into homes without it going straight into the recycling bin. The Matter box is a letterbox-sized package containing a selection of brand samples sent to households by Royal Mail – getting advertising material from marketers, who pay to use the service, into the hands of the consumer.

Individuals sign up on the Matter website to receive the limited-edition boxes sporadically throughout the year, rather like a magazine. Because recipients have to actively subscribe to receive a Matter box, advertisers can be sure that their products arrive in ready, willing hands. Matter Media, on behalf of the Royal Mail, has already received a large number of requests for subscriptions to the Matter box, demonstrating the opportunities that abound when advertisers give consumers the choice of whether they are to be targeted with promotional material – another example of the Freesumerism trend.

Made for walking: Louis Vuitton hits Chinese streets

In a bid to enhance luxury shoppers’ city experience and reinforce its travel heritage, Louis Vuitton has teamed up with audio tour guide company Soundwalk to produce a series of mp3 guides to selected Chinese cities. The guides are narrated by renowned Chinese movie stars such as Gong Li and Joan Chen, and provide consumers with walking instructions accompanied by stories of interest about passing locations. Walking tours eradicate the need for a guidebook, and let tourists wander at their own pace whilst taking more away from a city trip experience.

Good things come: Portable waiting rooms alleviate the waiting process

Portable waiting-room spaces allow customers to sit and interact in varying ways, offering a different experience each time they have to wait. In a commission for Dutch Railways, Amsterdam-based design studio Tjep has taken the pain out of waiting and moved the waiting room into a more open environment. The waiting room can be adapted and reconfigured according to user requirements, making it ideal for constantly changing business environments. If a waiting area is not busy, why not remove some of the furniture, or rearrange it so there’s more space? Adapting rooms in this way can help turn linear spaces into more pleasant, right-brained environments that will appeal to the growing generation of consumers in an increasingly right-brained world.

Say aah: Nanotechnology takes on toothpaste

Brands looking to boost the functionality of their products are exploring the commercial possibilities of nanotechnology previously used in medical and scientific procedures. By using special enzymes in its new toothpaste, Swissdent has created a new method of tooth whitening, bringing biotechnology into the home. The enzymes push the whitening solution in the toothpaste into the smallest fissures on the tooth’s surface, ensuring total bleaching of the teeth. The uptake of nanotechnology means that it is increasingly finding its way into the home at an affordable price, making cosmetic and cleaning products more effective and less harmful to the environment.

Tapping into local sources: Bottling tap water in New York

A new water bottle venture in New York encourages the consumption of tap rather than bottled water, by bottling local tap water for sale. Rather than ratcheting up food (or drink) miles by getting water from the Alps, Tap’dNY sticks with New York City sources, finding the best tap water and bottling it to be shared with residents across the city. Rather than outsource their business, more companies are preferring to do it themselves, making the best out of the resources available in their immediate surroundings.

Retro redesign: Wall’s sausages get a new casing

Traditional packaging and a return to core, uncomplicated brand values offer a simple way of rejuvenating brands in an era of mass-produced goods. Wall’s, the food manufacturer, is going retro with its sausage packaging, and returning to a forgotten period of packaging meat by using brown paper in favour of plastic derivatives. The new sausage packaging, devised by London-based branding agency Ziggurat, will feature an old Wall’s logo using a classic typeface – stamping a mark of heritage whilst communicating the freshness and quality of the meat, similar to that of an old butcher.

Gentleman shopper: Dunhill’s luxury retail retreat

Retail retreats combine premium retailing with luxury leisure facilities, building a branded experience similar to a private members’ club. A new Dunhill flagship store in London’s Mayfair mixes high-end clothing with gentlemen’s services such as a barber, spa, bar, leather-seated cinema and humidor, creating a location in the bustling city to which customers can escape for a pampered experience.

Located in Bourdon House, the home of Alfred Dunhill, the store combines original brand heritage with modern luxury. Regular customers can store their cigars in the well-kept humidor in the basement, and enjoy drinks brought to them wherever they are in-store. This luxury model for retail, offering premium service and facilities, helps to keep customers loyal and spending large amounts of time – and money – under one roof.

Outside in: Civic store design engages with the environment

UK high street favourite John Lewis is taking the innovative step of creating a department store as visually powerful outside as it is within. With brands’ civic presence becoming increasingly important and consumers raising their visual merchandising standards ever higher, it is important that anchor stores are more than just a big brick box.

Unlike most city shopping complexes, the new John Lewis store in Leicester aims to engage with its surroundings. A ‘skin’ of natural fabric covers the building, allowing people in the shop to see to the outside rather than feeling insulated inside the store. Designed by architects FOA, the building’s skin will be adorned with an original John Lewis print from 1803, bringing both heritage and local relevancy to the site.

Photographed by Helene Binet and Satoru Mishima.

Good to go: Innocent introduces healthy fast food

A new approach to fast food is transforming instant food into a realistically healthy option for people on the go. Rather than including a bag of powdered artificial flavourings, new Veg Pots from Innocent promise a more natural snack. Each Veg Pot contains three of the five recommended daily portions of vegetables – which means that busy workers can come closer to their five-a-day quota without even having to visit the produce aisle at the supermarket.

The recipes, including Tuscan bean stew, come from inventive chefs who formerly worked at Michelin-starred restaurants such as The Fat Duck, and will be available for purchase at £3.49 from October. Expect to see more brands introducing fast gourmet foods, as consumers’ growing obsession with super-healthy Pharmafoods is still underserved by the fast-food market.

For more information on Pharmafoods and The Future Laboratory’s Food Futures report, contact James Brooke.

Money store: A new insurance shop for WGV

A new insurance shop in Germany could help make policy-buying a more pleasant experience and shake up the current purchasing environment for financial customer service. Designed by architects ippolito fleitz, the WGV Insurance Group’s new Stuttgart hq features an innovative customer service centre on its ground floor, which achieves what many banks have tried and failed to do – translate financial services into a retail environment.

The spacious interior was designed to create acoustic discretion – meaning private conversations between customers and managers are kept confidential – rare in many open-plan bank layouts. Other financial services, whose customer environments often follow a more linear approach, could certainly learn from this unstuffy design.

Photography by Zooey Braun.

Food for thought: Sensory lollipops mix taste and vision

Sensory food that taps into the brain’s frequencies could change our ideas of brain food and culinary technology, as we explored in our recent Food Futures report. A new lollipop concept called Eye Candy mixes sensations of flavour and vision, thanks to the vibrating receptors on the lolly’s surface that stimulate the visual functions of the brain.

Sucking the high-tech candy creates vibrations on the tongue, which translate to the frequencies the eye uses to communicate with the brain. This induces a mind-stimulating experience where the brain is fed information that it can read as images. Eye Candy is available in six flavours with different effects, such as meditation and focusing.

The concept demonstrates how food can become much more than just a taste and texture, but a medium in which to interact with our emotions and thought.

For more information on The Future Laboratory’s Food Futures report, contact james@thefuturelaboratory.com.

Do my cabbages look big in this? De Bijenkorf gets a makeover

Premiumising retail is helping to differentiate mid-market chains from their competitors. The latest example is de Bijenkorf, a department store in Amsterdam, whose food department has received an upscale makeover thanks to interior design team Concrete.

Mid-market retailers around the world are following suit – in the United States, JCPenney has been revamping many of its chains and offering higher-end labels in its stores, whilst in the UK, Debenhams has made similar upgrades. Now de Bijenkorf is establishing itself as an important premium store, introducing some Value Redefined pedigree to a cheapened retail environment.

For more new food spaces, please see our Food Futures report.

Show and tell: Visual wiki dictionary launches with video definitions

Online wiki-dictionary Wordia could become a new front for online reputation managers to fight on. Wordia allows users to upload their own definitions of words in the form of video clips – and is set to be as revolutionary to the printed dictionary as Wikipedia was to the Encyclopedia Brittanica. Based on an open-source model much the same as Wikipedia’s, this new dictionary could see brand-related slang reaching a wider audience, and entering common parlance.

Michael Birch, founder of the social networking site Bebo, is behind this new dictionary venture, which presents an Impression Management issue similar to that associated with the rise of wiki sites – that brands will need to pay closer attention to their name online, particularly if it could be used in an entry on Wordia.

Through the looking glass: Virtual mirrors used for a quick change

Virtual mirrors could revolutionise the fashion retail model. A new mirror system is turning clothes shopping into a much more efficient and interactive process. Rather than grabbing a heap of items before heading to the changing room, shoppers can pick just one item, with the mirror offering many more virtual garment options.

Created by researchers at the Fraunhofer Heinrich-Hertz-Institute (HHI) in Berlin, the mirror reflects a computer image of the shopper wearing a particular item. A camera above the mirror films the customer, then the images are fed into a computer system to be read. Here, the garment is emulated for texture and movement of the material, and the virtual image is projected on to a screen in front of the shopper. If shoppers then wish to see a particular item in a different colour or print, they just tell the mirror to show it – only size is an issue in this changing room.

‘Shoes and clothes are just the first stage,’ explains Anna Hilsmann of the HHI. ‘The virtual mirror could also be used to help customers select eyewear or jewellery.’

Domo Arigato Mr Roboto: Retail robots take over

Robotics are set to change how shoppers interact with brands in-store. Next week, robots will take over the retail environment for the first time, with humanoid machines on hand at Uniqlo’s New York flagship store to greet shoppers and assist with their queries.

Built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, these ‘Wakamura’ robots are capable of talking to customers and engaging in brief conversation. Alongside their customer duties, the machines will also conduct morning inspirational exercises with the existing human staff. Unmotivated and unhelpful customer assistants, beware: when robot sales assistants begin to take over, managers could start to re-assess what their human staff really offers to consumers.

Not just for the birds: Motorola Sparrow eases the check-out experience

A new mobile point-of-sale device is set to improve the retail experience for both consumers and retailers. The Motorola Sparrow decentralises the check-out point by allowing customers to avoid queues at the check-out counter and pay for a product wherever a Sparrow-equipped sales assistant may be in the store. Stores, in turn, are able to increase their check-out capability without having to build additional counters.

Promising to respond to consumers’ increased service demands, the Motorola Sparrow gives sales assistants the ability to function as both information stations and mobile check-out clerks, as the product combines a mobile point-of-service device, a credit card reader, a scanner, a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader and a mobile phone. New York-based design firm Aruliden Studio has created a handsome product suitable for front-end retail environments: the device is equipped with easy-to-navigate touch-sensitive areas that can store product information, customer history, and check-out and phone capabilities.

Distill, my heart: New fashion and style magazine launches

Fulfilling the need for more instant information to fit into people’s busy schedules, a new magazine compiles the best of the creative press. Distill, billed as ‘a primary source of inspiration for creatives worldwide’, launched on 1 September, and offers a global digest of fashion and style editorial.

The first issue of the international bi-monthly fashion magazine, published by Craft, brings together a carefully selected collection of images and educated commentary offered by a panel of industry experts. The commentary on each selected feature is followed by the story as it appeared in its original form. The publication’s masthead reads like a Who’s Who of the creative world: Designer Tom Dixon is editor-in-chief, and the editorial board includes Net-A-Porter’s Natalie Massenet, fashion designer Giles Deacon and Deyan Sudjic, director of London’s Design Museum.

‘This is not a fashion magazine about hemlines. It is about the way fashion is presented globally,’ says publishing director Christopher Lockwood. ‘Fashion is an important visual stimulus and inspiration to the creative sector as a whole.’

Heroes in the hood: Local ambassadors connect brands with communities

Using locally known people as brand ambassadors is becoming an effective way for global brands to communicate with local communities. Rather than employ managers at local branches who are unfamiliar with the surrounding population, a clothing store in Canada and the US is engaging with its community by sponsoring local ‘heroes’ to represent the brand.

Yoga-inspired apparel retailer luluemon athletica gives branded clothes for free to members of each store’s community, such as personal trainers and yoga instructors known to the local population. Using local ambassadors in communities such as Toronto, South Beach (Florida) and Santa Barbara (California), the brand has its sportswear both endorsed by real sportspeople and seen by an audience for whom a luluemon athletica store is easily accessible.

In addition, the company relies on community advertising, holding local events to increase awareness of the brand’s offering. In all, the label moves a step beyond traditional franchised businesses to form a strong, genuine connection with its market.

By hand: A personal touch enhances the brand experience

Hand-written labels are being used to create a bespoke, artisan and intimate brand experience for the consumer. In order to confirm a premium standard of production that is easily understood by the customer, makers of Maestro Dobel tequila are stamping a mark of quality on each bottle of luxury silver tequila by signing, dating and numbering each bottle by hand. The hand-crafted spirit demonstrates that a simple personal touch on packaging can create a message that communicates directly with the customer. Rather like a run of fine art prints, the hand-written number also validates that the product is a limited and refined piece of work.

Pop up, pop in: Online toaster museum suggests new advertising opportunity

As people increasingly open up their personal lives for public view online, the number of brand sponsorship opportunities available is growing as well. German web designer Jens Veerbeck recently created an online museum of his 600-strong collection of toasters, which received about 20,000 visitors last year – a possible advertising platform for toaster brands such as KitchenAid or Dualit. Such individuals, who demonstrate specialist knowledge on their websites, create an attractive prospect for companies looking for new ways to advertise. Brands don’t need to make their own statement about heritage – instead, they could look to one of these enthusiasts who already have a museum full of their goods.

A royal treat: Pentagram is given the keys to Bobby’s Burger Palace

In an effort to breathe new life into the burger bars of yore – fast-food joints more generally known for nosh as greasy as their laminate table tops – American celebrity chef Bobby Flay has launched a new restaurant whose interior design aims to raise the profile of this all-star meal.

Kitted out by leading design firm Pentagram, and with identity and packaging duties carried out by the Rockwell Group, Bobby’s Burger Palace in Long Island, New York, sells fun along with its fries, its chunky lettering and warm colours bringing customers through the doors to enjoy the restaurant’s Americana-inspired burger recipes.

The restaurant makes no pretences about what it’s selling, but the interior design certainly makes diners feel less guilty about what they’re eating. BBP’s colours and textures echo the ‘Healthy Eating’ Design Direction featured in The Future Laboratory’s recent Food Futures report, with warm orange and grassy green shades enhancing the natural aspects of the food, and tactile materials and a bright interior adding to the guilt-free atmosphere.

Pump your tyres, pimp your ride: Toronto’s Bike Pirates bring new meaning to recycling

Rather than plunder and pillage, a new generation of pirates is promoting the trifecta of environmentally friendly and socially responsible action: renew, reuse and, above all, re-cycle. Bike Pirates, a group of bicycle enthusiasts in Toronto, has created a shop and workspace where local cyclists can fix and produce their own customised bikes. The volunteer organisation has piles of donated bicycle parts that visitors can use to create new bikes in an effort to make the most of old materials – a social activity both in responsibility and action.

The wartime saying, ‘Make do and mend’, holds particular relevance in the current, slowing economy; Bike Pirates has latched on to this sentiment by inviting members of its community to create new products from their existing goods. By offering a space in which people may be involved in such activities, shops such as the Bike Pirates set themselves apart from other retailers by effecting tangible change in their community.

Waste note: Clearer labelling aims to help consumers battle food wastage

Online grocer Ocado aims to take a lead role in ending food wastage by introducing ‘use by’ dates on its delivery receipts.

Around 6.7m tonnes of food is wasted every year in the UK alone, as we reported in our recent Food Futures report. With massive food inflation, consumers are becoming more conscious of maximising everything they buy.

Under the slogan ‘Save more, waste less’, the receipts – the first of their kind in the world – list fresh foods according to when they should be consumed, using days of the week rather than dates for extra clarity.

‘Ocado customers … will know, at the point of ordering, exactly what they can use at various points throughout the week,’ said Ocado chief executive Tim Steiner.
‘We hope that this will further support our ongoing efforts to reduce food waste.’