Sally Denton Lecture, 17/03/14

The topic of the lecture was trends and how learning to predict them can keep you a step ahead as a creative practitioner.
        The two types of trends are:

• Macro Trends - small, seasonal, niche trends that have little impact as a whole. These trends prevent the world from looking the same.
• Transitional Trends - the underlying trends running through society and are of the most importance for artist and designers wanting their work to have an impact.

In order to predict trends, a great deal of intuition and research is involved. The trends that she found to be of most prevalence currently were the following:

Future SciencesA great deal of this trend is about looking to the past as a way moving forward into the future. The current post-recession nature of society at the moment needs an injection of big thinking and big ideas that have the potential to change things for the better. We live in a decade of turbulance, exploration and an awakening from the self-indulgent lifestyle in which society once previously operated.
        Space is currently a huge topic; we have never been as obsessed with the future as we are now. The chances of the next generation going to space are high, and things that we could only imagine before are now becoming realities. Dreams are coming true and being realised.

Human 2.0The changes that human beings and the human race will undergo will be huge. People are living longer and better lives and so we see an increase in positive reprisentation in the media. Age is now celebrated, and the age at which you become 'old' is ever decreasing. We are undergoing a re-alignment of our lives, so much so that people can live to be 120 and Google are developing a new technology that could increase the human lifespan to 170.
        We are becoming aware as a society that a great deal of the 20th Century will be lost with that generation. There will be no one to tell the stories, no one to validate that the 20th Century even happened. With these realisations, further questions are raised about the relationship between the elderly and technology.
        Bill Gates has donated all his money to curing different kinds of diseases. Alongside this, a new satallite system is being developed that will be able to track who has and who has not received the required vaccinations around the globe.
        The use of robotics in human biology is also something that will come to a realisation in the near future. With the development of 3D printers, we have the ability to generate organs and subsequently, replace our 'faulty components.' There will come a day when we will not need to carry doner cards. People will optionally have their limbs exchanged for robotic arms and legs - a pain-free and practical existence.

Generation X-YWomen throughout history have been sexualised, but in more recent decades overly so. However, a dramatic shift towards a more modest world is a likely movement. While women's fashion will look to modesty in its realisation of the problems with the over-sexualisation of women, men will transition from highly groomed, tanned and moisturised to be jointly more masculine and feminine. This will show in the male fashion industry and work interestingly in an androgenous society.

GlobalisationFashion designers can no longer simply market their clothing to English women only. The world is becoming more international, and that includes fashion too. East will join West in this respect.
In addition to this, we are moving towards living a more 'stripped back' life. More basic materials will start to appear in homes, such as chipboard and concrete, as a more economical approach to living and a shift in the nature of interior design.
        The world is finally appreciating Africa for the incredible country that it is. We are moving a step forward in the way we think about what Africa does for us, rather than the other way around. Africa has become more technologically advanced than other continents such as America or China and have done in a much quicker space of time. Not only this, but Africa has all the minerals necessary to support future life. Nigeria alone has enough potential solar power energy to power Europe. In addition to this, the continent possesses all the componens needed to make a material that is lighter than air but stronger than steel.

Creative Consume
For 20-30 years we have slept-walked through our lives thinking of nothing but ourselves. We have not considered the consequences of out actions and because of that, the planet is in the state that it is now. In response to this, there is a greater interest in the possibilities of being self-sufficient: allotments that can be stored in your kitchen, making furnature, utensils and clothing and the like out of degradable materials.
        A new method of genetic modification will mean that plants will naturally grow the lace rather than it having to be made. There is also a new technology looking into building technology in plants and harvesting their energy.
        The future, ultimately, will be about how we can use the resources we have as a way of increasing our sustainability. The introduction of nano technology means that if the products made are smaller, the fewer resources are needed to make them.

The lecture as a whole was endlessly interesting and I enjoyed the different content and the way that it was displayed. I had never even considered the importance of trends, nor appreciated their importance to creative practitioners across all disciplines. It can't hurt to be in the know.