Need to Know
22 : 11 : 22

Amsterdam – Design agency Modem Works has created a digital extension for the Teenage Engineering OP–Z media synthesizer inspired by the perceptual phenomenon of synaesthesia.

Synaesthesia is a neurological condition in which information meant to stimulate one of the senses stimulates several. Listening to music, for instance, can involuntarily evoke an experience of colour, shape and movement. Modem’s extension to the synthesizer translates music into real-time AI-generated imagery.

The studio collaborated with creative developer Bureau Cool to connect the media synthesizer to Stable Diffusion, an advanced AI system capable of creating original, realistic images and art from a description in natural language. Stable diffusion generates associative imagery based on different audio metrics – such as pitch, key, notes, rhythm and beats per minute – which have been translated into text prompts describing colour, shapes and movements.

Modem and Bureau Cool have billed the project as a ‘joint performance between human and machine’, and see its potential for musicians as exploring new forms of creativity. Watch out for LS:N Global’s upcoming reporting on AI’s influence on creativity.

Global – Data analytics platform GWI’s latest research looks at social media’s ever-growing impact on how consumers find and purchase products online, as two in five younger consumers admit they make regular impulse buys.

The Connecting the Dots global survey noted generational differences in online shopping behaviour. While Gen Z are more likely to purchase online than Baby Boomers, they are less inclined to consider e-commerce as a top benefit of the internet (25% versus 44%), valuing community more (23% versus 10%).

As a result, social media search tools are driving online sales among young people; easy online checkout processes (34%) and social media ‘buy’ buttons (21%) are common reasons Gen Z and Millennials give for impulse buying. Baby Boomers’ more conventional and search engine-led shopping experience is less likely to result in impulse buys, which only 10% admit to doing on a regular basis.

‘New internet users don’t have the expectations and the mindset that we have become accustomed to,’ explains Prabhakar Raghavan, senior vice-president at Google. Where the conventional online shopping experience would involve browsing lists of brands or products, younger demographics’ use of social media is reshaping shopping into a less intentional, but discovery-led and impulsive journey.