A monthly snapshot of trends in marketing, storytelling and digital culture locally and abroad.

1. THETRENDSREPORT
September 2015
Proudly brought to you by NATIVE VML

2. A SNAPSHOT OF TRENDS THATARE
INFLUENCING US, SHAPING US, AND DEFINING
THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE RIGHT NOW, WELL
BEYOND DIGITAL.

3. BEING HUMAN

4. BEING SIMPLER

5. #1
Being Simpler
Being human can be daunting – we’re
bombarded with messages, overwhelmed with
choices, and constantly connected.
Which is why the desire to have less,
disconnect and to live simpler continues to
grow.

6. (Less) Choice
More flavours, more options, more choice, more
stress. Today, decision fatigue is real. Now, a new
bookstore in Ginza, Tokyo stocks one title at a time
only. This concept hopes to combat decision fatigue
and make browsing a whole lot faster.
Source: PSFK
READ MORE

7. Primal Stress Release
Forget meditation and therapy. In a world where
being overwhelmed and stressed comes pretty
standard, new forms of stress relief are making an
appearance, and it’s primal: good old fashioned
destruction.
The Rage Room in Toronto is a safe space to let out
your anger and smash things into pieces.
Source: The Guardian
READ MORE

8. Airplane Mode (For Your Home)
As our homes are becoming more and more
saturated with tech, disconnecting seems impossible.
This is why Space Caviar is creating RAM House –
aiming to create a space of ‘selective
electromagnetic independence’, using movable
shields of radar-absorbent material.
Source: Space Caviar
READ MORE

9. Bedroom Sans Mobile
Just The Bell, designed by DAN and TBWA, is an
analogue alarm clock. It’s connected to your
smartphone’s alarm clock, but aims to keep your
smartphone (and its many distractions) out of the
bedroom.
Source: Tech Crunch
READ MORE

10. BEING BEAUTIFUL

11. Gone are the days of standard beauty defined
by the media.
Today, the consumer is king, and we’re
collectively reshaping what it means to be
beautiful.
#2
Being Beautiful

12. The New Aesthetic
Molly Bair looks a little different. She is often
refered to as an alien, a teenage boy and even a
gremlin, but has debuted at Proenza
Schouler’s SS15 runway. She has also worked
with fashion heavyweights like Steven
Meisel and Karl Lagerfeld.
With her, many other beautifully awkward models
are reshaping the face of fashion, from the likes
of Amilna Estevão, Anna Cleveland, Lineisy
Montero, and Anna Grostina.
Source: DAZED
READ MORE

13. Black is Beautiful
In South Africa, Maite Makgoba founder of
Childish Training and Manufacturing, hopes her
Momppy Mpoppy toy will better reflect reality for
young black children in a market dominated by
white figures.
Source: The Guardian
READ MORE

14. “This is more than just a business, we are
creating awareness, that our dark skin and
thick Afro hair are pretty as they are.”
– Maite Makgoba

15. Gender Blur (Now In Store)
We’ve long seen androgynous fashion, and
more recently gender-free shows, models in
gender-concealing masks, and gender-neutral
labels on runways.
But, merchants like Acne, Vince and Rag &
Bone display men’s and women’s clothes in
proximity, occasionally mixing them on the
racks. And this year, Selfridges in London
dedicated a significant space to ‘Agender’, a
store-within-the-store where gender-fluid labels
can be found.
Source: NY Times
READ MORE

16. Disability In Fashion
Recently, the internet was abuzz with news that
Madeline Stuart, an 18-year-old Australian girl
with Down’s Syndrome, had been booked to
walk at New York Fashion Week.
From Paralympic Athlete Aimee Mullins, Jilly
Peppa, to TSS survivor, Lauren Wasser, the
fashion industry is entering its next Diversity
Frontier: Disability.
Source: DAZED
READ MORE

17. “For a disabled person to post a selfie,
for instance, feels radical to me in many ways.
It's a way of taking back
the narrative surrounding disability.”
– Cat Smith

18. BEINGAUGMENTED

19. With our mobile phones in hand, we’re
becoming better, smarter, even super human
– and in some cases making up for our
shortcomings.
#3
Being Augmented

20. App Lets The Blind Navigate Cities
SeeLight is an app that helps the blind navigate
city streets through audible cues that instruct
users on when to cross the road.
Source: PSFK
READ MORE

21. App Lets The Blind Feel Smiles
Mouthwash brand Listerine has developed a
smartphone app that helps blind people to "feel"
when people are smiling, using facial recognition
technology.
Source: Creativity-Online
READ MORE

22. iPhones With Smoke Detectors
Apple is working on a smoke detector, which
could be incorporated into future Apple devices,
according to a recent patent filing.
Source: Daily Mail
READ MORE

23. Find Your Bike With Your Phone
Developed by Frolic studio in
Amsterdam, Pingbell is a smart bicycle
bell. Users simply ping their bell using
their smartphone to find their bike – in
real life.
Source: Kickstarter
READ MORE

24. App That Helps The Blind ‘See’
Aipoly, a smartphone app uses machine vision
and text-to-speech technology to identify and
describe photos of everyday objects to visually
impaired users.
Source: Tech Crunch
READ MORE

25. BEING EMPATHETIC

26. A connected world means we are more aware
of those around us, and will continue to
express more interest, even empathy for the
strangers we share the world with.
#4
Being Empathetic

27. Muscles for Abuse Victims
Meathead Movers is a Californian moving
company. The company consists of student
athletes who have partnered with local shelters,
helping abuse victims escape their living
situations, free-of-charge.
Source: Good News Network
READ MORE

28. The Trans Manicurist
"Nail Transphobia” – a mobile manicure station
trades manicures for education on the trans-
subject, hoping to wipe out Transphobia (and
ignorance thereof) one manicure at a time.
Source: Broadly
READ MORE

29. “I get a chance to meet them and bond;
I basically get to educate them, but also talk
about things like Beyoncé and the weather. It
humanises the issue.
They see I'm just a nice person like them.”
– Charlie Craggs

30. Stranger Storytelling is Growing
A myriad of storytelling podcasts that open
intimate conversations with strangers continue
to grow in popularity around the globe.
Source: iTunes
READ MORE

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