Design Directions

Translating consumer trends into actionable designs, colour palettes and materials.

Layered Realities

A new wave of designers is bridging the virtual chaos of gaming realms and extended reality with the tactile authenticity of human craft

Design Directions

Design Directions

DISown

In some respects, fine art is like designer fashion: many appreciate and desire it, but few possess it. In response, fast fashion retailers are t...

Design Directions

Seek No Further

The 1990s are cool again. Everyone from ASOS to Iggy Azalea is referencing 90s culture for Millennials who are still pining for the era of MySpac...

Store Design : Clothing : Visual Merchandising

Design Directions

Paris Fashion Week A/W 14

Two broad looks emerged from Paris Fashion Week this season. On one side designers maxed out, using tribal references and embellished finishes, whi...

Ann Demeulemeester : Chloé : Christian Dior

Design Directions

Toms Austin

Toms shoes and glasses can be found at thousands of stores in the US and overseas, but until recently the brand had only one dedicated store, in ...

TOMS : Community : Coffee

Design Directions

Refined Remedy

The beauty world is built on products that are made with chemicals, but consumers are becoming increasingly discerning and inquisitive about the ...

Provenance : Hand Made : Small Batch

Design Directions

Chanel Supermarket

Each season, Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld invites the fashion world to Paris’ Grand Palais to witness his latest spectacle.

Chanel : Supermarket : Paris

Design Directions

Milan Fashion Week A/W 14

Travel and texture were key themes during this season’s Milan Fashion Week, with some designers collecting tropical artefacts while others opted ...

Fendi : Marni : No.21

Design Directions

Sinistry

Designers are drawing inspiration from myths, theatre motifs and fables to explore the juxtaposition of darkness and light across a variety of di...

Dystopia : Theatre : Experience Deisgn

Design Directions

ICA x Dover Street Market

Google Maps is most often used to find out how to get from A to B in the shortest time. But the tool can occasionally be a gateway to serendipity, ...

Institute Of Contemporary Arts : Dover Street Market : London

Design Directions

London Fashion Week A/W14

Texture and colour played an important role this season, while other looks subtly referenced the great outdoors.

Issa : Peter Pilotto : Roksanda Ilincic

Design Directions

Gym Style

Product designers are borrowing visual cues from the world of sport and gymnasiums, creating playful pieces with a nod towards the growing fascinat...

Gymnasium : Retail : Retail Design

Design Directions

Jugofresh

Jugofresh, a Miami-based health-food retail chain, has come up with a new way to market and sell health food – think hip-hop and army fatigues rath...

Jugofresh : Health : Juice Bar

Design Directions

Stockholm Design Week 2014

New treatments for industrial materials, experimentation with texture pairings and contemporary craft were all explored at this year’s Stockholm Fu...

Örnsbergsauktionen : Nordic : Furniutre

Design Directions

Alexander Wang

For his post-apocalyptic New York Fashion Week show, designer Alexander Wang challenged guests to brave the wilds of deepest Brooklyn.

Alexander Wang : New York : Brooklyn

Design Directions

Maison et Objet 2014

Colour dominated and the mood was fresh at the spring/summer 2014 Maison et Objet design fair in Paris last month. Contemporary products and interi...

Paris : M&O : Maison Et Objet

Design Directions

Thoughtful Flow

Designers are creating abstract alternatives to in-store signage, using tonal colour to complement and highlight individual collections and guide v...

Wayfinding : Intuitive : Colour

Design Directions

Shipley & Halmos

When Shipley & Halmos decided to open its first pop-up store in conjunction with New York Fashion Week autumn/winter 2014, the contemporary heritag...

Shipley & Halmos : NYFW : Canal Street

Design Directions

Sneakerboy

The crowds in Paris gasped this week as the models for Chanel’s summer 2014 couture collection strode down the catwalk in, of all things,...

Sneakers : Australia : Sneakerboy

Design Directions

Mother

As human needs evolve and technology advances to create solutions to these fluctuating needs, we are accumulating a lot of devices. Once a device h...

Data-tracking : Internet Of Things : Self Quant

Design Directions

Vectorism

Prompted by the powerful convergence of art and science, as we identified in our Re-enlightenment Rising macrotrend, and by consumers’ ubiquitous e...

Digital : Graphics : Coding