Trends

The Reset to Real

Eventbrite's first Social Study says 79% of 18-to-35s plan to go out more, and they want soft socializing, spontaneity and events found by word of mouth, not the perfect plan.

eventbrite.com ↗ · #365

AI Companies Are Opening Actual Coffee Shops

AI labs are quietly getting into the coffee business — a strange, very physical answer to a very digital hype cycle.

scribble.network ↗ · #364

Why Brands Are Quietly Dropping Celebrities

Spotify built a campaign around an ordinary Geese fan instead of the band. Pepsi built one around Knicks fans instead of players — proof that in a fragmented culture, someone else's famous person means nothing to you.

creativeboom.com ↗ · #363

Why Time Feels Faster Than It Used To

Noema traces why the 2020s scrambled everyone's sense of time, from Boomers to Zoomers — turns out the warping is real, backed by actual psychology.

noemamag.com ↗ · #363

The Age of Average

Alex Murrell's essay on how film, fashion, and branding keep converging on the same safe, data-approved look.

alexmurrell.co.uk ↗ · #361

GUNIA on reinventing Ukraine's craft traditions

A Ukrainian ceramics house treats 150 craftspeople and centuries of folk motifs as a living, growing archive.

designboom.com ↗ · #360

It's okay to hop on the bandwagon

On New York's sudden, collective pivot to the Knicks and the World Cup — sheeple summer, and why it's fine.

substack.i-d.co ↗ · #360

At Paris Fashion Week, A Definitive Look for Menswear Emerged

From Dior to Celine, Paris Men’s FW settled on one quiet note: aspirational realism in olive, stone and faded navy.

highsnobiety.com ↗ · #359

The Body Became the Sensor, and the Market Followed

From glucose patches to posture trackers, the body is now a data source — and brands are rushing to read it.

trendwatching.com ↗ · #358

Why Are Fashion Brands Culturemogging the Venice Biennale?

Fashion houses at Venice's 61st Biennale outspent nations. What happens to art when private capital becomes its default infrastructure?

highsnobiety.com ↗ · #356

The Armored League

A brutal full-contact sport where history meets heavy metal, with armored fighters using blunt medieval weapons. If you are in NY, you should check out this "WTF" event.

thearmoredleague.com ↗ · #353

The Geometry of the Fitting Room

An investigation into the confusing, inconsistent world of women’s clothing sizes and the data behind why shopping feels like a guessing game.

straitstimes.com ↗ · #353

Sensory-Rich Design in 2026

As we drift deeper into digital worlds, designers are using hyper-realistic textures and light to bring a sense of touch back to the screen.

adobe.com ↗ · #352

John Maeda’s Design in Tech Report

The definitive look at how computational design and new patterns in business are revolutionizing the creative ecosystem.

designintech.report ↗ · #351

Figma’s State of the Designer 2026

While AI handles the speed, this global report confirms that long-term success still hinges on human craftsmanship and creative autonomy.

figma.com ↗ · #350

Why Packaging Is Design’s New Power Player

No longer just functional, the box is now an emotional touchpoint and one of the most culturally revealing spaces in contemporary craft.

creativeboom.com ↗ · #349

New Year, New Glyphs

The type world is already setting the tone for 2026 with a fresh crop of expressive, high-contrast faces.

creativeboom.com ↗ · #348

AI, but on drugs

PHARMAICY treats AI like a chemistry set, using synthetic “drugs” to distort cognition. Creativity through controlled chaos.

trendwatching.com ↗ · #347

Adobe’s crystal ball for 2026

Authenticity, experimentation and human nuance headline Adobe’s latest trends report. Less polish, more point of view.

business.adobe.com ↗ · #347

The rise of the creative generalist

As AI specialists multiply, broad thinkers gain value. The future belongs to creatives who can connect dots, not just optimise them.

itsnicethat.com ↗ · #347

CEO, the weird bits

From rollable screens to electric roller skis. CES 2026 reminds us that innovation still has room to be playful.

wallpaper.com ↗ · #347

Cut-Through vs. Cut-Out

Most marketing thinking still assumes that attention is the primary bottleneck, as if audiences are passive recipients waiting to be interrupted, persuaded, or impressed by whatever appears in front of them.

linkedin.com ↗ · #346

Experts predict the top social marketing trends of 2026

Good news: quality, originality, and real voices are back in favor, with AI finally settling into its role as a tool, not an author.

marketingbrew.com ↗ · #346

The 50 Most Iconic Technologies of 2025

Hard Fork looks back at a year where AI, group chats, and cultural oddities all competed for icon status. It’s a snapshot of how technology becomes memory.

youtube.com ↗ · #345

The SoDA Report on a New Era for Creativity

A deep dive into the trends defining digital creativity’s next chapter, where craft meets computation and designers become cultural translators.

sodareport.com ↗ · #344

AI Gadgets Promising to Change Your Life

AI slips into your ears, glasses, and bedroom… Since the Christmas season is coming, here is a tour of the devices courting your daily rituals.

wallpaper.com ↗ · #344

The Gothic Isn’t Dead - It’s Just Rebranded

A great piece that looks at the resurrection of gothic imagery in contemporary design. This is gothic as aesthetic language, not costume.

itsnicethat.com ↗ · #342

The S-Curve Is Coming for You

Concept Bureau breaks down what happens after the early hype fades, and why the messy middle of innovation is where the real shape of things takes form.

conceptbureau.substack.com ↗ · #341

Can a Store Really Build Community?

Retail is being reimagined - again. BoF looks at whether physical stores can still become cultural hangouts, or if the café/bookstore/gallery hybrid is already passé.

businessoffashion.com ↗ · #340

The ‘Whisper Networks’

Young people are turning shopping social - with Whatsapp groups, Substack newsletters and private Instagram accounts becoming the in-the-know places to shop for the best items.

bustle.com ↗ · #340

The Style That Shaped the Streets

Two decades of street style, told by those who lived it. From Tumblr grids to TikTok cores, Highsnobiety’s oral history traces how everyday fits became fashion canon.

highsnobiety.com ↗ · #339

Taste Is the New Power Tool

According to FIELD, taste has evolved from personal instinct to cultural operating system - the last un-automatable advantage in a machine-made world.

field.io ↗ · #339

How to Design for a Future That Keeps Morphing

In this wide-ranging conversation, designer Nick Foster explores how to design for a future that never stays fixed.

designbetterpodcast.com ↗ · #337

Labubumatchadubaichocolate Is a Mood

The New Yorker’ weekly opinion piece on technology and culture talks about the recent trend of absurdity, and where Labubumatchadubaichocilate is a response to algorithmic overstimulation.

newyorker.com ↗ · #337

The Visual Culture of Women’s Sport

Following the success of the Lionesses at the Women’s Euros, the creative industry is finally treating women’s sport as a rich & complex culture worth showing up for.

itsnicethat.com ↗ · #336

Taste Is the New Intelligence

In a world drowning in content and noise, the ability to choose with precision, intention, and style might be the ultimate intellectual flex.

wildbarethoughts.com ↗ · #334

WTF is Vibe Marketing?

Forget demographics. Vibe marketing is a feeling-first approach to branding that’s intuitive and emotional, and a new direction in brand-building.

ehandbook.com ↗ · #334

What Happened to Speculative Futurism?

It’s time that digital artists up their game.

artreview.com ↗ · #332

Shit’s Gonna Get So Fucking Weird and Terrible

An uncomfortably honest field guide to the deeply bizarre now-now-soon.

sonderuncertainly.substack.com ↗ · #331

Reclaim Imperfect Faces

Technology isn’t just changing the way we look—it’s changing our sense of how we should look.

theatlantic.com ↗ · #329

Spells, Vibes, and Thick Imagination

At the heart of RADAR's 2025 focus is a simple but significant question: how do we build infrastructure that helps people cross from yearning for better futures to actually building them?

radarxyz.substack.com ↗ · #329

Why AI art is winning over Young Collectors

After Christie’s controversial AI auction, Artsy asked experts why AI art is captivating Gen-Z and millennial audiences.

artsy.net ↗ · #328

SXSW 2025: the 10 trends that shaped this year’s festival

The Drum was on the ground at South by Southwest again this year, finding out what the future holds for marketing, media and tech. Here are their biggest takeaways.

thedrum.com ↗ · #327

The Coolest People Online Are Barely Posting at All

Oversharing is out, privacy is in. Digital minimalists are curating their online presence with intention — because in 2025, mystery is the ultimate flex.

popsugar.com ↗ · #327

2025 Design in Tech Report (Unedited): Autodesigners on Autopilot

The top takeaways from John Maeda.

youtube.com ↗ · #327

10 Breakthrough Technologies

What will really matter in the long run? That’s the question MIT tackle each year as they compile their annual list. Sure, they can’t see the future, but they expect these technologies to affect our world in a big way, for decades to come.

technologyreview.com ↗ · #325

Spending Ourselves to Sleep: How Rest Became Beauty’s Latest Luxury

Beauty and wellness brands are launching luxurious “sleep wellness” products left and right. How helpful are they?

highsnobiety.com ↗ · #325

The Anatomy of Hype

Offering insights for individuals and organizations seeking to understand the dynamics of hype, make informed decisions amidst the frenzy, and harness its potential for positive change.

Your Majesty → · #324

The Digital Renaissance of the Arts & Culture Industry

The arts and culture industry holds immense significance in modern society, not only for creating, driving and preserving heritage, but for economic contributions as well as social and community cohesion. In part one of this article, experts from around the world discuss how the industry has evolved and the anticipated future developments.

odgersberndtson.com ↗ · #323

Pinterest Predicts 2025

The Pinterest trend report is always a fun read. Apparently up and coming trends for 2025 include fisherman aesthetic, castle-core, and (our personal fave) sea witchery plus many more.

business.pinterest.com ↗ · #322

Pop Culture Trends of 2025

Showcasing how elements of mainstream media are influencing societal behavior and consumer goods, Trend Hunter’s pop culture category features everything from viral videos to film merchandise and political satire.

trendhunter.com ↗ · #322

The age of average

In an age where literally everything looks the same, is it time to introduce some originality into design, culture and life?

alexmurrell.co.uk ↗ · #321

Ten Charts That Capture How the World Is Changing

Insights into how tech has changed our lives, plus user experience lessons from our fave green owl, Duolingo.

digitalnative.substack.com ↗ · #321

OK COOL Trend Report

The most anticipated social trend report of the year is here. Read Gatekeeping Information is SO Boomer Coded: A marketer's guide to Gen Zalpha's new school mindset.

okcool.io ↗ · #321

It's Nice That's independent makers gift list

Spanning books, prints, T-shirts, toys, socks, candles, jewellery, food and everything in between, you’re sure to find something on this annual list of top gifts to buy from independent creatives and businesses, to suit all your gift-giving needs this festive season.

itsnicethat.com ↗ · #320

The state of UX 2025

UX Collective share their predications for what to expect for User Experience (UX) Design in the next year.

trends.uxdesign.cc ↗ · #320

The Biggest Font Trends To Look Out For In 2025

From a sans-serif backlash to neo-retro revivals, our experts predict a diverse typographic landscape for the coming year.

creativeboom.com ↗ · #317

Key trends in audiovisual design: what's next for 2025?

In the fifth of a special six-part series, the latest instalment from Creative Boom's trend report look at the cutting-edge developments shaping the future of audiovisual design and how they're set to transform brand experiences by 2025.

creativeboom.com ↗ · #316

OK COOL Trend Report

The most anticipated social trend report of the year is here. Read Gatekeeping Information is SO Boomer Coded: A marketer's guide to Gen Zalpha's new school mindset.

okcool.io ↗ · #315

What Dollcore Says About The Precarious State of Girlhood

You’ve heard of Cottagecore, and you’ll definitely have heard of Barbiecore: the next aesthetic is Dollcore. While the former offer critiques of societal expectations of femininity, the latter emphasises and enables traditional, submissive roles.

highsnobiety.com ↗ · #314

The Shift from Creator Economy to Meaning Economy: A New Era of Engagement

As AI generates mass content, standing out in this overwhelming digital landscape will depend on meaningful connections, stories, and authenticity.

culture3.com ↗ · #314

The Pinterest Autumn 2024 Trend Report

In the latest trend reveal for the incoming season we see an increase in Japanese style searches, cosy autumn inspiration and refreshing takes on fashion.

newsroom.pinterest.com ↗ · #313

Fashion Meets AI With The Y3K Aesthetic

No one knows what the future looks like so this trend is completely open to your own interpretation – from robot themes and AI to a sense of playfulness.

refinery29.com ↗ · #312

Download this: The world’s favorite apps

Is Snapchat most popular in Serbia or Peru? How familiar are you with the most popular apps in different countries across the world?

restofworld.org ↗ · #312

What is Brat Summer? The Charli XCX trend explained

It’s honest, bunt and messy – and so is the presidential candidate?

news.stv.tv ↗ · #310

Hypercycle: Navigating Authencity in a Post-Trend World

A navigation tool for facing our tenuous relationship with trends in what feels like a chaotic moment in culture. The report tackles both pain points and their medicine.

geraldinewharry.com ↗ · #307

Why the Met Gala still matters

The Met Gala remains divisive, in particular this year. This piece explores its origins and how it still manages to be both highly visible and at the same time, a black box of secrets.

vox.com ↗ · #305

How breakdancing became the latest Olympic sport

Why is the sport officially called breaking, and how is something so freestyle and subjective going to play out as a scored sport in Paris this summer?

theconversation.com ↗ · #304

Adidas SPEZIAL is still delivering ten years in

With the Handball SPEZIAL growing in popularity with a new, younger audience the brand’s s/s 24 collection gives a nod to archival designs but with a contemporary twist.

highsnobiety.com ↗ · #302

China: The World’s Shopping Cart

An exploration into the rise of Chinese shopping platforms such as Temu and Shein, plus how China is trying to reduce the cheap connotations of a “Made in China” label.

restofworld.org ↗ · #301

The Year Digital Fashion Went Out Of Style

No matter how hard each player in this ecosystem worked, the past 12 months have seen the ‘hype’ around Web3 fashion wane – what’s next and how does the future of digital fashion look?

texintel.com ↗ · #299

The Stanley Water Bottle Craze, Explained

People are spending thousands of dollars on Stanley water bottles in multiple colours — you can catch people on TikTok opening cupboards to reveal huge collections. But are people yearning for multiple water drinking vessels?

vox.com ↗ · #298

The age of average

In an age where literally everything looks the same, is it time to introduce some originality into design, culture and life?

alexmurrell.co.uk ↗ · #297

Ten Charts That Capture How the World Is Changing

Insights into how tech has changed our lives, plus user experience lessons from our fave green owl, Duolingo.

digitalnative.substack.com ↗ · #297

Formulaic content fatigue will prompt its counter-development

Algorithmic recommendations, coupled with the “soon” widespread adoption of AI-generated content, intensify content and media fatigue. Despite our phones taking up so much of our attention, there is a growing resentment towards this constant attachment. In 2024, the well-established TikTokified content will persist across all media, attempting to influence consumers through the unpolished language of authenticity. However, historical patterns suggest that the mainstream rise of something often indicates the underdevelopment of its counter-development. In the realm of content, culturally savvy and courageous brands or creators will begin to explore new or revisit old ways to tell their stories, against the grain of TikTok, Reels, and generative AI.

#296

Brand clarity vs synthetic content

To support this counter approach, brand clarity will be even more important as this synthetic content proliferates the “normal” web and commercially feasible manifestations of the “synthetic” web will start to become the norm. Either partially or fully generated content on-demand is coming with AI news being the first real application. We also expect to see brands building their own internal branded text and image models. In doing so, brands will be giving up some level of creative control in exchange for unprecedented time/affordability, and thus deploying MVC—minimal viable content.

#296

From minute-by-minute releases to super-charged innovation

When it comes to AI releases, this year has been challenging to keep up. In 2024 we'll stop seeing parabolic groundbreaking releases and instead, the transformers architecture will be applied to anything and everything—rather than the bang-for-buck text and image generation models that have been in the spotlight. This second-order innovation will be spurred on by companies and labs effectively using and implementing these tools—especially in research—fuelling innovation leaps in industries you might not have anticipated.

#296

Cost-driven strategies will no longer cut it

In anticipation of market headwinds, cost-driven strategies (such as mass layoffs) have prevailed in the last quarter of 2023. This sets the stage for a market filled with talent and entrepreneurs, poised to make their next move. Similar to 2008, 2024 could mark the beginning of a new class of innovators introducing fresh—more culturally relevant—solutions to the market. Post layoffs, corporations will need to seriously consider the balance of cost-reduction and value-creation strategies to avoid slimming down to obsolescence. For instance, the adoption of AI is often associated with increased efficiency—and therefore reduced cost. Winning businesses in 2024 will channel those saved budgets towards creating new values for their customers rather than mere optimization of their balance sheet.

#296

AI will recenter the importance of data experience design

In the 2010s, when performance marketing took the spotlight, meticulous segmentation and highly targeted ads were in vogue. However, years later, many brands, including Airbnb and Adidas, reverted to traditional mass marketing, sobering up from the elusive promise of personalized conversion. Personalization then retreated into the realms of product and CRM, assuming a lower-funnel position. This year, the seismic advancement of AI and the introduction of OpenAI GPTs rekindle the personalization conversation, now often in the context of personalized commerce. In 2024, businesses and brands will explore how to turn their proprietary data into consumer-facing experiences, enriching the buying and loyalty journey. More than ever, data scientists, product designers, and system architects will collaborate, developing an ecosystem that ethically collects data to benefit users at an individual level, as well as enhancing the business’s overall performance.

business.pinterest.com ↗ · #296

Pinterest Predicts

The annual, not yet trending report, is packed with insights into what people are planning to do, try and buy.

business.pinterest.com ↗ · #296

The State of Fashion in 2024

Economic affairs and climate urgency are two key pressures that will have a huge impact on the industry – how should fashion companies prepare?

businessoffashion.com ↗ · #296

2024 AI: 10 Things Coming

Hungry for MORE AI insights? How do you want to see the AI landscape evolve next year?

youtube.com ↗ · #296

Depop’s First-Ever Trend Report

2023 was the year of Barbiecore, Gorpcore, and Quiet Luxury, according to Depop's new Trends Report - but what will 2024 hold?

assets.ctfassets.net ↗ · #296

My AI Predictions 2023 - 2026

An intuitive view, rather than research, of the coming years in the AI space, from someone working in field robots.

lesswrong.com ↗ · #293

When should marketers start investing in brand as well as performance marketing?

themarketingmeetup.com ↗ · #292

E-Commerce 3.0: The Future Of Retail Is Hyper-Personalized

The Klarna CMO on what brands need to do to hyper-personalise product recommendations and achieve the ultimate shopping experience.

forbes.com ↗ · #289

“It is all about placing a premium on breakthrough thinking”

A UK agency leader shares her point of view on the growing importance of social commerce, making the most of AI and leading with curiosity - something we too value here at YM.

creativebrief.com ↗ · #289

Why brands are obsessed with building community

The age of passive consumerism seems to be over. Brands and creators want customers to be active, engaged fans — and to spend more money.

vox.com ↗ · #288

POV: It’s time we dress for success again. Here’s how

Alongside the influx of work-from-home, came the influx of work-from-sweatpants, have we forgotten how to dress well to stimulate our own feelings of empowerment and drive for success?

fastcompany.com ↗ · #287

Four Charts That Show Why AI Progress Is Unlikely to Slow Down

Compute, Data, and Algorithms - these three major inputs are the key to understanding how AI will likely progress.

time.com ↗ · #287

Biophobia: search trends reveal a growing fear of nature

Scared of bugs, spiders, snakes? Through internet data, these researchers looked into how urban living is fuelling our fear of nature.

theconversation.com ↗ · #286

Trends have lost all meaning

In the process of chasing cool, have brands lost the purpose of analysing culture? It seems we’ve come to confuse what is ‘trending’ with what is a ‘trend’.

contagious.com ↗ · #282

Metaverse May: Separating Potential From Reality

An exploration into fashion and the metaverse - where and why the idea of real-time, immersive fashion events has faltered.

theinterline.com ↗ · #282

The Test of Time: How are designers creating long-lasting, impactful work?

With the need to constantly churn out ‘content’, creating work with visual impact often gets overlooked.

itsnicethat.com ↗ · #281

RIP Metaverse, we hardly knew ye

At just three years old, is the Metaverse ready for an early grave? This writer certainly thinks so.

www-businessinsider-com.cdn.ampproject.org ↗ · #281

The age of average

In an age where literally everything looks the same, is it time to introduce some originality into design, culture and life?

alexmurrell.co.uk ↗ · #279

Stop siloing tech trends and start looking at the bigger picture

Technology is just another tool to help you achieve your goals, don’t forget to integrate it with your strategy and customer needs.

thedrum.com ↗ · #279

​​Disney’s first round of layoffs knocked the metaverse off its priority list

Another blow to investments into the Metaverse as Disney scraps its next-generation storytelling and consumer experiences unit.

qz.com ↗ · #278

Ten Charts That Capture How the World Is Changing

Insights into how tech has changed our lives, plus user experience lessons from our fave green owl, Duolingo.

digitalnative.substack.com ↗ · #277

Internet Computers

Is it time for the OS (operating system) to retire and for us to live seamlessly from the cloud? The Browser Company’s CEO Josh Miller certainly thinks so.

notboring.co ↗ · #277

Fashion collaborations embracing technology in 2023

Luxury fashion brands are still investing in new technologies this year, let’s see who's on the line up.

fashionabc.org ↗ · #276

TikTok’s De-Influencers Tell You What Not to Buy

Authenticity is prevailing once again as influencers are flipping their role online. Now they’re de-influencing, telling you what NOT to buy.

wired.co.uk ↗ · #275

Whatever happened to the metaverse?

Search traffic for ‘metaverse’ has dropped by 80% this last year, are we all just over it? And what does that mean for its future?

ft.com ↗ · #275

Five strategic prompts to consider in 2023

The YM strategy team reviewed, in hindsight, what they learned in 2022. Expect insightful digital considerations for brands, designers and marketing managers alike.

Your Majesty → · #275

Resilience Tech Report

For both organisations and individuals the need for resilience is more prevalent than ever. How can technology and design support a transition from efficiency to resilience?

resiliencetech.report ↗ · #274

The Metaverse industry is already going belly-up for reasons we can't imagine

Despite heavy investment, layoffs and division closures are rife across the industry.

futurism.com ↗ · #274

Forward Thinking: What can the creative world expect in 2023?

Uncover the topics, trends, worries and wonders that will shape the design industry in the year to come.

itsnicethat.com ↗ · #274

Your stuff is actually worse now

You'd expect that developments in technology, design and manufacturing would lead to great design and better quality products. Well, actually consumerism ushered in an era of badly made stuff...

vox.com ↗ · #274