Color: in 2014

One of the great things about attending the Color Marketing Group International Summit is not the amazing speakers, although there are plenty of those, or the weather, (Hello Miami!)... but the workshops. Over several days, there are a series of workshops with people from all industries: product design to horticulture. Yes, the flowers you buy are purposely bred to achieve trend colors. (Crazy, I know.)  It’s really fascinating to hear about the individual micro trends in each industry as well as tie together the larger macro trends.  Some were completely new to me and some I’ve been excited about for a little while now. After 4 days of trend talk, my head is buzzing with new colors, combinations, materials, and trends. Although I can’t tell you exactly the colors we picked to for 2014, I can talk about some rising stars and a little about 2013: 

1. White!
Yep, the anti-color.  Everyone was talking about white. White alone, white with other colors, white in homes, white in fashion, and white in technology.  The appeal isn't really the color white, white is a place holder for invisibility. A vision of our future where technology integrates seamlessly into our lives. In products it’s the new smart color. No longer is technology signified by black and neon blue, it's soft translucent white.   

2. Saturated Desaturation.
In the same way, white and translucency soften what was once hard and dark.  Adding color to blacks and grays gives them depth and softness. These color infusions favor the cool side, so dark rich blues and greens, so dark they are almost black and soft grays with a purple cast.  

3. The Colors.
Although blue was talked about almost as much as white, in a way it was almost the new neutral. Rich dark blues have become as ubiquitous as black.  In general hues are intensely saturate, but a little muddy.  Much like the saturated neutrals, color is become more complex. Greens were very yellow and acidic, reds were pink and orange.  

There are many more on my list of exciting trends, but some are more 2014 and some things have to be a surprise. 

Images: (Iris, Plicate watch, embroidery)

Interface Trends Going Mainstream

All of the product launch seasons are fun for designers, not so much for the big announcements, but to see which early-stage trends are moving to the mainstream. Recently, we have seen a shift in the cutting edge of interaction design; moving interactions off the touchscreen and into the behavior of the product itself.

In some circles, this is hardly new. MIT, CMU, and other universities have been hotbeds of haptic interface and ambient informatics work for the past ten or fifteen years. But this tangible, behavioral interface has been slow to reach the mainstream.

So while our cold-numbed fingers will definitely appreciate using the Nokia Lumia 920's new sensitive touchscreen from the comfort of thick winter gloves, we are especially jazzed by the JBL PowerUp speakers that launched more quietly alongside. The casual seamlessness of dropping your phone onto a charging pad, of tapping a speaker to shift the sound stream to it, is exactly the sort of natural interface that we see people primed to expect. A latent need waiting to be expressed.

The technology impresses us by working invisibly, seamlessly. This effect is not easy to accomplish. It requires talented designers and engineers collaborating closely and treating the physical and digital sides of the product as an integrated whole. Nicely done.

Sustainability at Retail

Consumers are increasingly aware of the impact our purchases have on the global landscape. This not only applies to the economic effects, but also to the environmental. I want the brands I endorse and love to source materials ethically and consider their impact on our planet.  It made me really happy to hear about how one fashion house is doing just that.

From shoes to sunglasses to packaging, Gucci is rethinking its design process to incorporate recycled materials. Just a couple weeks ago, the company announced a new line of biodegradable men's and women's shoes designed by Gucci Creative Director, Frida Giannini. While Gucci began to integrate sustainability into their design with a line of biodegradable sunglasses, other designers, like Stella McCartney, have made eco-friendly design a core part of their brand mantra.

It’s nice to see luxury brands embrace a greener design while maintaining the quality standards they are known for.  The best part of all is that as sustainable design becomes more common at the higher-end of fashion design, it will indubitably trickle down into more mainstream retail channels.

ICFF 2012- Color!

For a color junkie like me, NY in the spring is a great place to be, as everyone is embracing color to its fullest.  This year,  that meant a lot of neon. And to my immense pleasure, NY Design Week fully embraced spring colors with events ranging from a talk with the president of Color Marketing Group, Mark Woodman, about color trends for 2013, to design flash sale site FAB.com’s color pop up shop at Flor.  (photo from mimumo because there were way too many people at the opening to get a decent photo)

All in all, ICFF was dominated by natural colors and authentic materials with an energizing streak of intense artificial colors.

So my CMYK roundup from ICFF is:


Pink, Red, Orange, Yellow, and Bright Blue... almost the whole rainbow. Yes, neon is everywhere right now, but the more inspiring, longer-term trends are rainbow brights, particularly vibrant pinks, reds, oranges, yellows, and bright blues. These vivid hues were everywhere from textiles to entire booths (thanks Kohler!). They were used in full concentration and in smaller accent ratios, often hidden.

The more authentic construction focused trend continues with matte finishes and lots and lots of wood -it was a furniture show after all. There was a notable lightening of wood tones, but still retained the grain, knots, and historical marks of the reclaimed materials.

Matte whites and blacks were the two  most dominant colors of the show. The soft finishes invoke an instant feeling of history, like an instagram for paint.

If I had to pick my number one palette from the show, it would be the matte black, white, and light wood with a hint of mint green.  It has such a fresh pleasing feel, like the perfect mint chocolate ice cream sundae. Um project was really hitting all the right color notes for me, with light woods, matte, black and white, mint and neon. 

But as the color whiplash heals, I find myself going back to this photo Bensen’s booth. The soft grays accented with desaturated jewel tones. It’s a soothing alternative to the wash of black, white, and color.

ICFF 2012 - Design Trends

New York City for DesignWeek and ICFF is always an inspiring trip. This year was no exception; we had a wonderful time exploring the great design events around the city. After taking a few days to recover and sort through our photos we identified a few of our favorite trends from this years events. 

Open Frame - An aesthetic that is described by its suggestion of form via outlines and repetition. We particularly enjoyed the the Tweet Outdoor Stool by Ji-In Kim, chairs and light fixtures created by BEND, and the Acapulco Chairs by innit.

Obvious Construction – By embracing the way in which parts of an piece come together many designs brought focus to this intriguing point of juncture. A few examples include the tables by Jones Falls Furniture, which incorporate slivers of red aluminium trim on each leg that break through the top surface forming distinct red right angles. And the playfully proportioned Drop stools by Objeti, which pay particular attention to the detail where the metal base intersects with the wood seat.

Reclaimed Industrial – The growing movement using reclaimed materials and industrial detailing was well established this year with lots of repurposed materials being used in controlled ways. At the Core77 Open Exhibition we enjoyed the Strap End Table by uhuru and later stumbled upon another uhuru gem, the Stitch Table at their 2012 preview in the Phaidon bookstore.

Sculptural Dimensional Patterns – Another established trend incorporating 3D patterns and form on planar surfaces keeps evolving every year. The most exciting work in this category was the wall divider and ceramic/porcelain tiles by Interlam and Kowa. The use of subtle textural patterns was featured on the felt Buzzicube by Buzzispace and carried over to a 2D interpretation on the Hot Mesh chair by Bludot with a familiar 3D hexagonal pattern.

We hope you enjoyed our favorite design trends from NYC DesignWeek. Stay tuned for an upcoming post summarizing some of the colors trends we observed at the show!

Health Care Gets Social

How should hospice and palliative care institutions integrate social media into their care-delivery strategies? This is the question that drove the agenda for Duke University’s first CHAPI conference on May 9 and 10. CHAPI, the Collaborative on Healthcare for Aging Populations and Advanced Illness, is a group of elite education and business thought leaders whose mission is to promote innovation in the management of organizations that improve patient care for aging populations and people with advanced illness.

Inspired by the work and presentation by Regina Holliday, Christian Sinclair , and the opening addresses of Dr. Richard Payne, president of Medicine and Divinity at the Duke Divninty School, and Jeffrey Moe of Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, I had the honor of leading the association’s day-long design-innovation exercise. Six different teams populated unique opportunity maps based on their interpretation of a detailed case-study prepared by Ruth Hancock of HCR ManorCare.  Over the course of the day each team created a comprehensive conceptual solution to a specific end-user, business, and technology problem.

The take-away for everyone involved in the delivery of healthcare offerings is that we must confront the reality of patient (and family)-driven, web-informed, self-guided care strategies. Leading institutions, like the ones participating in this discussion are proactively charting the course for real-world applications of social media in the new ecosystem of care.

To learn more about the agenda and speakers visit the Duke Fuqua CHAPI event page.

Interconnectivity

 The landscape of CES is changing. The nature of new innovation at CES has shifted from blockbuster physical products to a focus on making online and mobile entertainment experiences faster, more efficient, more organized and more visual.

Beyond the trajectory of connected technology, there were few groundbreaking innovations on display at the 2012 show. Take TV’s for example. When flat screens first launched, it was one of the biggest stories at CES. It was truly about who would have the biggest and thinnest screen. Although large OLED displays, and improved 3-D TV technologies are cool, it’s clear that the real innovation is now in the way entertainment experiences are converging into one unified ecosystem of services and applications.

The theme of interconnectedness and convergence is driving three big innovation spaces:

1. Digital Health and Wellbeing

CES now includes a growing component devoted to rapidly evolving connected health solutions. At the 2012 show, these ranged from solutions like the Fibit Aria Wi-Fi Scale or the Valencell biometric data tracker, which monitors users’ physiological data through an ear piece. In the fitness and wellbeing category, there was a range of product solutions devoted to monitoring users’ fitness or tracking progress through participant competition.  Companies like Nike and Motorola have seized the opportunity, with products like the Fuelband and MOTOACTV, which further illustrate the momentum in this space. For example, Motorola’s MOTOACTIV uses Bluetooth technology to allow users to enjoy a workout and then monitor performance directly on the device and online at the MOTOACTV Training Portal.

More importantly, large healthcare providers, like United Healthcare, now see CES as an opportunity to showcase a portfolio of mobile and online connected health solutions that begin to indicate how interconnected solutions will become an everyday component of our healthcare experience.

2. Connected Home

For several years now, interconnected technologies have been making an increased impact on the way we live at home. From security to entertainment, and from energy management to the way we connect with the world, all of these technologies are being ubiquitously integrated into the digital and physical “wiring” of our home environment.  Managing and monitoring everything that surrounds our living environment can now be tracked as easily from the other side of the world as it is in an individual room. The most compelling solutions surround the way we bring more efficiency to our homes.

 Integrating connected technologies in the home environment requires a high level of human connection and sensitivity to the user’s environment,  both from a usability standpoint, as well as an emotional standpoint. One of the challenges is going to be how we, as designers, ensure technology and information do not overwhelm users.

3. Mobility

CES has also seen an increase in convergence of technology and information within the automotive space. This year, the momentum continued with several major automotive brands, such as Ford, Mercedes, and GM, showcasing a range of entertainment technologies and display methodologies that focused on on-board screens and content delivery. These automakers are providing consumers with an integrated vessel, guiding, entertaining and even managing their personal wellbeing.

The integrated vessel was best showcased by Ford, who is marrying healthcare and mobility through its partnership with mobile health company WellDoc. Ford displayed an in-car health system that monitors the driver for issues such as congestive heart failure, asthma and diabetes. The system uses the Ford SYNC^® connectivity technologies to connect data from cloud-based services

Expect the areas of digital health, connected home and mobility to not only continue to grow in their own right, but also to see a rapid acceleration in the interconnectedness between these segments as the cloud continues to provide an immediate channel for convergence.