Trends

The latest global consumer trends that we’re tracking across sectors, substantiated by expert opinions and the latest industry statistics.

What’s New on LS:N Global?

From shifting definitions of value to TikTok-fuelled commerce and hormone health retreats, our analysts unpack what’s new and next on LS:N Global.

Macro Trends

New Codes of Value

In this new era of scarcity, richness is expressed through rituals, and abundance is found in regenerative pursuits and deeper connections. New codes of value are emerging around connection, care and human flourishing.

Macro Trends

The Synthocene Era

As AI redefines our understanding of intelligence, we begin to enter The Synthocene Era, an age in which the lines between what is natural and what is artificial are increasingly blurred – driving humanity into a future when technology will redefine what it means to be human.

Micro Trends

Coffee Shop Raves

Boosted by a new generation of sober-conscious consumers seeking real-life connection and fun, coffee shops are taking over the party scene as the new destination for daylight raves.

Design Directions

Biofabricated Futures

A revolutionary sustainability breakthrough, biofabrication is the engineering of biological products. This report explores its market evolution and future potential in transforming materials to drive commercial success.

Design Directions

The 67% Project

The 67% Project saw Refinery29 adjust their art direction to accurately represent US women's body shapes for one week.

Refinery29 : Body Positive : Real Talk

Design Directions

London Design Festival 2016: Design Directions

Designers at this year’s London Design Festival used imaginative and multisensory storytelling techniques to examine food design as a narrative too...

London Design Festival 2016 : Studio Swine : Eat Taipei

Micro Trends

Band Brands

Once band merchandise was the preserve of kids who like heavy metal, but now it has become a booming industry that has expanded well beyond its roo...

Merchandise : Fashion : Anti-Authenticity

Design Directions

PANDA

PANDA is a fictional platform that would help sharing economy workers push back against their ‘employers’.

OMA : The Sharing Economy : Airbnb

Micro Trends

Anti-choice Architecture

Turned off by the model of mass-consumption, a new wave of luxury brands are removing excessive choice from the buying process in favour of a more ...

Stuffocation : Anti-Choice : Minimalism

Design Directions

Forests

Forests is a series of temporary installations that challenge our perception of public spaces and translate the ideas of the sharing economy into t...

MINI Living : Placemaking Futures : London Design Festival

Design Directions

Beast & Burden: Food Styling

Cross-disciplinary studio Beast & Burden challenges conventional perceptions of food through sculpture, photography and moving images. Its playful...

Beast And Burden : Sensory Assault : Food Styling

Micro Trends

Brand Educators

Higher education is the next frontier for brands wanting to act as life-long partners to consumers.

Immortal Brand : Luxury : Education

Design Directions

Intro-spectrum

A new wave of designers are exploring subdued narratives, embracing a spectrum of grey undertones, highly expressive graphics and layering surfaces...

Beauty : The E-motional Economy : Branding

Design Directions

#TOMMYNOW

Tommy Hilfiger's latest fashion event ditched runway convention to create a carnival of couture.

Destination Retail : New York Fashion Week : Tommy Hilfiger

Micro Trends

Culinary Diplomacy

Welcome to a new wave of Culinary Diplomacy, where food is used to forge closer relationships with consumers.

Chefs-in-residence : The E-motional Economy : In Situ

Design Directions

Oddsson

Oddsson is a new hospitality proposal in Reykjavik that takes the best of hotel service and combines it with the convivial atmosphere of a hostel.

Hostel : Hotel : Reykjavik

Micro Trends

Seeing Sound

Podcasts are adapting to a visual-first culture.

Podcasts : Transmedia Futures : Audio

Design Directions

Small World

The Small World pop-up restaurant by m ss ng p eces for Google was designed to appeal to culinary adventurers.

Google : Real-time Translation : Augmented Reality

Micro Trends

Pro-formance Training

Performance technology is growing up.

Wearable Tech : Self Quants : The Optimised Self

Design Directions

Neuro

Clement Balavoine's digital fashion brand shows how video game technology could transform the industry.

Neuro : Fashion Industry : Augmented Reality

Design Directions

Neo-nutrition

Food branding and packaging is rejecting the popular visual cues of ‘organic’ and ‘artisanal’, and instead embracing a more clinical, synthetic-loo...

Food Packaging : Anti-Authenticity Marketing : GMO

Micro Trends

Airbnb Backlash

The peer-to-peer home rental service's growth is causing friction with both local communities and the hotel industry.

Airbnb : The Sharing Economy : Hospitality

Design Directions

Samara

Airbnb’s new design studio will draw on the company’s experiences to develop new services for connection, commerce and social change.

House Vision 2016 : Airbnb : Community

Design Directions

Aaron Tilley: Still Life Photography

With a distinctly minimal yet dramatic style, photographer Aaron Tilley uses food as an abstract still life medium to create scenes that engage and...

Food Photography : Visual ASMR : The Gourmand