2018 Trend Report :
Customer expectations in the year ahead.
Comprehensive and instantly actionable 100+ page report featuring the most powerful innovation opportunities for 2018 and beyond.
At the heart of our thinking here at TrendWatching is a single, and simple, idea. That is, that the innovations that consumers interact with – or simply hear about – have the power to change their behaviours and mindsets, causing them to have new expectations of brands.
That’s what this Trend Report is all about. Each of the 16 trends here – all illustrated by innovation examples drawn from tw:in, our network of global spotters – represents a newly-emerging and powerful consumer expectation.
Namely, that it is possible to know what consumers will want next. Not by asking them, but by looking at the businesses they’re engaging with now and asking two questions. How are these innovations changing consumer expectations? What do these new expectations mean for my organisation?
Check out our Premium platform that gives you exclusive access to the 2018 Trend Report in all formats (PDF, PPT, Deluxe Print edition), plus access to monthly trend snapshots, quarterly industry update trend reports, tools, and expert analyst support you need at every stage of your innovation journey.
Visual thinking: How we reinvigorate design
The 16 mega-trends form the foundation of TrendWatching’s research and analysis process. They are characterised by an icon system and each mega-trend corresponding to a specific colour throughout our methodology.
These colours informed the basic colour palette of the 2018 Trend Report, but we did not limit ourselves to a monotonous use of the colours as it used to be earlier. We believe that colour-mixing palettes - the harmony of support colours - can make our design more capacious and complete.
Our primary font is Avenir, French for “future”. This hidden definition makes it a perfect choice for us because we are innovators who are always looking to push the boundaries and limitations of their medium. This also hints that the typeface owes some of its interpretation to Futura - the secondary typeface.
The report contains a substantial amount of information, therefore we wanted to avoid conflicting pairing that can be interrupt reader’s reading experience.
Previous Trend Reports relied mostly on stock photography, executed in a duotone filter, to illustrate trends throughout the report. This year we opted for a more unique and illustrative approach, with custom illustrations for each of the 16 trends.
This is because we believe that illustrations can simplify complex concepts and express compelling stories. They are an excellent way to set your brand apart from the rest, push brand awareness, and immediately trigger association with your brand. Also, it allows the trend report to look like a book that is not only informative, but also a joy to browse through again and again.
We started with brainstorming step then defined what words can describe the report for the best. This process extended to coming up with the guide style, inspired by early futurist paintings & synthetic cubism.
The style of illustration resembles paper cut imagery, but in a clean and digital style. This way the illustrations communicate a sense of hands-on playfulness, while remaining contemporary and within the general style of TrendWatching. It also allows for easy modification across different collateral and avoids the trouble of clashing individual illustration styles when a different illustrator needs to create matching material, whilst still keeping a unique and engaging design throughout.
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