Signals

Global – Running with the tagline 'Designed to be deleted', the app has rebranded to make its interface less addictive.

Hinge, which launched in 2012 as a ‘relationship-focused app’, has unveiled a new look that will be rolled out worldwide. As well as employing more playful colours and illustrations, the redesign reverses the type of language and techniques used by dating apps, such as gamified swiping.

Instead, Hinge wants users to get off the app and into the real world of dating. It has consciously avoided several techniques used by developers to make interfaces more addictive. For example, users won’t come up against game-like animations that rival apps use to keep engagement high. In addition, Hinge’s notifications will appear subtly in-app before fading into the background.

By promoting its own deletion, Hinge is showing its commitment to meaningful relationships, while Tinder has taken a different, pro-single approach. To see why digital companies should encourage more moderate uses of their services, read our macrotrend The Focus Filter.

Milan – A series of automation projects presented at Milan Design Week 2019 examined how technology could be applied to coffee preparation to create a heightened, sensual experience for drinkers.

Entitled HighTech x HighTouch, the project investigated how technology could aid the ritual of coffee drinking. Coffee Composer is a prototype that enriches the self-service coffee experience, using a range of colour-coded tokens to symbolise ingredients such as milk and sugar. Users input their selection and stack tokens into an automated coffee machine, which makes the coffee accordingly, while the interaction between human and machine is more tactile.

For those whose morning routine is defined by coffee, a secondary concept, Rouse, takes cues from the retro Teasmade, as a coffee maker that doubles as an alarm clock. Consumers set their alarm on their smartphone and Rouse begins brewing the coffee before they wake, with the sound and smells of the machine designed to wake them up. The project demonstrates how the smart home can seamlessly support existing rituals.

For more on the rise of coffee connoisseurship around the world, read our Craft Coffee Market.

An extensive survey about the future of work in France, Germany, Spain, the UK and Belgium has found that only 48% of the youth feel prepared for the working world. In France, just 37% of youth think their education system prepares them well to enter the job market, followed by 43% in the UK and 44% in Spain.

Across all surveyed regions, 88% say they would like to be better supported as they define their professional choices. In addition to reconsidering curriculums and career counselling programmes, there is an opportunity for brands to provide new, consumer-facing opportunities for mentoring and career development.

For Generation Z, rising financial anxiety is driving a strong desire for self-sufficiency and in turn, entrepreneurship. In our Anxiety Rebellion macrotrend, we chart the rise of Underaged Entrepreneurs.