Were pies really the dessert of choice this year? And did more people buy Droids than iPhones?
In January, our studio looked at some cultural trends and made a few predictions for the year ahead. As 2011 comes to an end, we wondered, how did we do? We decided to revisit the studio’s predictions for trends that would take off this year to see if any of them came true.
If you didn’t catch our predictions in January, check them out here.
Several of our predictions proved true, or at least close. Take Chris, for example, who predicted that the success of the Snuggie would make us more accepting of comfort over style. And he couldn’t have been more right as the “Forever Lazy” was introduced this year. While anyone wearing it would immediately be qualified to be on the show “What Not to Wear,” it is promoted as coming in three stylish colors and, as if we aren’t lazy enough – here it is folks! – there are zippered hatches in the front and back “for when duty calls”!
Thankfully, this next trend might redeem our society from complete laziness. In October, the LA Times’ Book section reported that the New York Public Library’s eBook lending was up 81% from last year. As Anne predicted, the proliferation of eBooks and tablets have increased reading so much so that 75,000 eBooks were leant out this year. And the more than 9,000 public libraries across the country have experienced growth in eBook demand as well. The Library also reported that more people are actually coming in to check out books than in years past, giving testament to the reading trend.
While hardcover books have not lost their appeal, screens are still the platform of choice. The same goes for choosing a cell phone. At the end of last year, Erin predicted that Droid phones would take over iPhones in 2011. It was a tight race, and the winner has yet to be determined, as both Apple and Motorola released their most high-tech phones to date this year. Motorola’s DROID RAZR (RM 1999) and Apple’s iPhone 4S are pretty comparable, but with the 4S’s features like Retina Display and Siri, it’s hard to say if there was as big of a push towards Droid phones as Erin predicted.
Apple wasn’t the only top company to introduce some changes this year. Facebook had its share of updates in 2011, most notably the Timeline layout. And as Eric O. predicted, we saw a further expansion of Facebook statuses such as those from the FitBit. The FitBit is a motion tracking device that monitors calories burned, steps taken, distance traveled, and sleep quality so users can maximize their health and well being. Little did users know that the device had a default activity sharing setting to share with other users via social networking features. Thus unbeknownst to them, their complete daily exercise log and information, including sexual activities, were publicly posted online – talk about over-sharing! And while Eric’s prediction for a “how are you feeling?” status has not come to fruition, this sort of over sharing is clearly not far off.
The coolest trend we saw this year, though, was the intersection of fashion and technology. As Sigita predicted, the line blurred between what we ‘use’ and what we ‘wear.’ Take the electric rock guitar shirt – you use it to play guitar and make simplistic music, and you also wear it to, obviously, cover your torso. Similar “line blurring” has also influenced haute couture. A Berlin based fashion label, called Moon Berlin, combined light technique with high fashion to create an elegant and classic collection of dresses that have LED lights minimally displayed through the fabric via circuits.
And while we’re still not sure whether 2011 really was the year for pie, or if cupcakes still rule the dessert universe, what we do know is that 2011 was a great year for the Karten Design team. You can read more about our highlights on our news page. Thanks to all of our employees, clients and partners who made it possible!
