LSN : News : Need to Know 08 : 12 : 17

1. REDS is a hybrid electric car and travelling leisure space

REDS by Chris Bangle, Los Angeles

Los Angeles – Designed by Chris Bangle, former design chief at BMW and produced by REDSPACE, a new Chinese car company formed by the China Hi-Tech Group Corporation, REDS is an electric vehicle that capitalises on the time spent travelling between destinations.

The travelling leisure space, which measures just under 3m long, has been specifically designed to respond to the needs of passengers in China’s mega-cities, where 90% of their time is spent sitting in traffic. The car can seat four adults when in transit and five when stationary, with a rotating driver’s seat so that they can easily participate in conversations when not driving. The space, which will include a drop-down table, can be converted into a fully functioning working environment, while a 17” screen offers entertainment options.

As Uber recently explored in its campaign, mobility brands are beginning to address the fact that Asian cities are plagued by congestion.

2. ScreenShop conveniently lets users shop any screenshot in-app

ScreenShop app, New York

New York – The recently launched ScreenShop app allows users to use any screenshot on their phone as a digital store. The app is able to scan screenshots taken from any app or website, recognising and curating similar items online, at a variety of price points.

In order to participate, brands need to sign up to be part of ScreenShop’s database, with Asos, Topshop, Boohoo, Kanye West’s Yeezy, Saks Fifth Avenue and Forever21 already having joined. ‘Screenshop is our way of helping consumers actualise the fashion inspiration on their social media feeds, providing them with an easy way to immediately shop the styles they see and love,’ says co-founder, Molly Hurwitz.

As explored in our Visual-search Commerce Market, visually-led consumers are looking to social media for style inspiration, offering opportunities for brands to create a point-of-sale while they have a captive audience.

3. Carsten Höller explores the evolution of nightlife

Design Miami – A new art installation commissioned by the Fondazione Prada for Design Miami offers a new take on the nightclub experience. Created by Carsten Höller, the space known as The Prada Double Club Miami, opened for three nights offering a variety of art, music, lifestyle and design exhibits. The work builds on the artist’s Double Club, a pop-up nightclub space in London that opened between November 2008 and July 2009.

In this new iteration, Höller offers two spaces which encompass a contrasting visual and acoustic experience, exploring the idea of two-sidedness. As Generation Z take over the club scene, notions of nightlife are evolving, an idea that is explored more fully in our Nightlife Market.

The Prada Double Club by Fondazione Prada and Carsten Höller, Miami

4. A members club that wants to instill a sense of collective consciousness

The Assemblage, New York

New York – The Assemblage is a new members club dedicated to self-care and wellness through the quest for a collective consciousness. As the brand’s site states, it hopes to help facilitate the transition ‘from a society defined by individualism and separation into one of connectedness’.

The twelve-storey building includes co-working spaces, alongside meditation rooms, a rooftop garden and Elixir Bars serving non-alcoholic drinks created to enhance complexion, digestion and mood. Founder Rodrigo Niño hopes to incorporate technology, in the form of artificial intelligence that guides members through daily mantras, as a way of combining the real and digital worlds. ‘[It is a] place of convergence for those who feel we could be defined not only by the known, but by the unknown,’

In line with Self-care Spaces, brands need to consider how best to make spaces that align with the emotional as well as the practical needs of their workers.

5. A global perspective on what worries consumers most

A new report by Ipsos elucidates the issues that most concern consumers in 26 countries around the world. Within China 43% of respondents are worried about threats to the environment, while in Saudi Arabia 43% are concerned about unemployment. In a Dislocated World, brands need to help foster a sense of stability in a world that is permeated by distrust, disenfranchisement and disconnection.

6. Thought-starter: How will car interiors foster productivity?

Although many people expound the potential for autonomous vehicles to become platforms for all kinds of work and leisure activities, as senior journalist Peter Maxwell explains, achieving this will first require big adjustments to the in-car environment.

Mobility brands are starting to recognise the need to develop new design and engineering solutions that refocus the car around the passenger rather than the driver. These look to mitigate the effects of movement and vibration as much as possible in order to create a context in which a whole range of new uses might flourish.

Uber recently filed a new patent for a ‘sensory simulation system’ that would use a combination of vibrating seats, air bursts and lighting to reduce motion sickness, something that is often exasperated by activities such as reading. Startup Clearmotion is developing an intelligent chassis system with a similar aim. If successful, such projects have the potential to turn the car into a powerful new touchpoint, one in which brands will have access to a captive, unoccupied audience.

Read the full Big Idea here.