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A DIY design manual for inclusive homeware

Hack Care, Singapore

Singapore – Lekker Architects and industrial design studio Lanzavecchia + Wai have created an Ikea-style catalogue of DIY design hacks to make the Swedish company's products better suited to people living with dementia.

Created in collaboration with the Lien Foundation, Hack Care takes aesthetic cues from Ikea catalogues and contains DIY ideas readers can use to alter and augment their furniture and homeware. In addition to visualising more than 50 tips and tricks, the 244-page manual also contains personal stories from other carers who assist dementia patients.

In a bid to empower people with dementia and their carers, Hack Care’s advice addresses how ‘everyday home environments do not always anticipate or meet the unique needs of people battling cognitive and physical frailty’, explains Lee Poh Wah, CEO of the Lien Foundation.

As we learn more about how interiors affect our wellbeing, designers are being prompted to think more carefully about the effect of their choices on the end user – something we discuss with Ivy Ross, vice-president of hardware design at Google.

This phygital food festival gamifies happy hour

Tiger Beer Street Food Virtual Festival, Malaysia

Malaysia – Alcohol brand Tiger Beer’s month-long food fiesta is an immersive online experience that aims to digitise street food for the Covid-19 consumer.

Players have their own customisable avatars that explore Street Food Central, where they can interact with other users including Malaysian influencers via a real-time chat. Digital games can win consumers physical rewards like drinks promotions, and all the menu items up for sale from the games’ 88 vendors who will deliver real meals within a 15km radius. Tiger Beer is also collaborating with restaurants to create a limited-edition exclusive dish.

This virtual city is the alcohol brand’s answer to hosting pandemic-friendly food events. The celebration is designed to uplift smaller eateries that have been affected by Covid-19 by providing a safer alternative to restaurant dining.

Similarly, in our Augmented Restaurants microtrend, we explore how food brands are using augmented reality to bridge the gap between physical and digital dining experiences.

Beats by Dre's new campaign celebrates black culture

Beats By Dre, US

US – The Apple-owned audio brand's latest marketing campaign, You Love Me, makes a statement about the black community’s impact on popular culture worldwide.

Featuring an all-star cast and crew, the short film stars figures such as tennis player Naomi Osaka, rapper Lil Baby and Nascar driver Bubba Wallace. Instead of heavy product placement, the campaign takes a more profound direction. It asks viewers the question ‘you love black culture, but do you love me?’ The various vignettes and narration illustrate the social injustice the black community continues to experience.

‘What we’re doing here is so much deeper than talking about the products that Beats make,’ shares Chris Thorne, the brand’s chief marketing officer. He adds that the campaign’s message mirrors ‘the mission of Beats and [is] true to what’s going on in the world right now’.

Read more on brands’ civic duty with regard to Black Lives Matter in our opinion piece by Martin Raymond, co-founder of The Future Laboratory.

Stat: Ecological objectives will future-proof travel brands

Hygge Circles by Nordisk, Ugakei

A recent report by Euromonitor International suggests that Covid-19 has exposed weaknesses in the travel and hospitality sector that present new opportunities for the industry to adopt new environmental strategies.

Almost half (47%) of the travel businesses surveyed are planning to invest in sustainable sourcing by 2025. In addition, 53% of holiday firms are looking to invest in energy, with 59% surveyed focusing on developing eco-friendly products and services over the next five years. The research highlights possible routes that the travel sector could take to rebuild post-pandemic.

As consumers become more eco-conscious the travel industry must reflect this shift in mindset. We explore this further in our conversation with the founders of Aerial, an app that tracks consumers’ travel carbon footprint.