As a jewelry designer and a blogger, what I do a lot of the time is to hunt for ideas. Way back when my blog was new, I also actively wrote for Toronto-based
Trendhunter, the world's largest trendspotting blog which was then starting to take off. The experience honed my hunting and blogging skills -
see the Trendhunter report and interview about me . During my time with Trendhunter,
I got to write on a wide variety topics which interested me - particularly art, design and eco trends - and some downright quirky ones.
Trendhunting is not about what is popular. It is about finding today's cutting edge ideas which might turn into tomorrow's new product or hottest thing. For example, back in 2008, while checking up on a product designer's portfolio,
I stumbled upon his idea for an anti-theft lunch bag. These were plastic zip lock bags with mouldy patterns on it! It obviously caught people's attention and it became a real product a year later. (
Here is one place which sells it)
Even before the Great Recession really hit in late 2008, Trendhunters
like myself were already writing about the credit crunch effect - the symptom of what was to come. Making your own clothes and accessories was part of that
"credit crunch couture" trend. Before then, DIY was for people who couldn't afford to buy things. Knitting and crochet was something your grandma did. Not any more. Now people are not only making clothes, jewelry, crafts and so on, but are proud to do so.
2008 was not only painful for so many but was the watershed for many industries and businesses, big and small. Newspapers and magazines are struggling and the music industry has basically tanked. Retail jewelry stores which were hit hard during the recession have not really recovered. Technology and the internet are huge drivers of those shifts in consumer behavior.
Yet it is not all gloom and doom.
I wrote about "Exploiting Chaos : 150 Ways to Spark Innovation During Times of Change" in 2009 and what it might mean for jewelry artisans like ourselves. It was Jeremy Gutsche, the founder of Trendhunter's first book, which basically inspires individuals and companies to take advantage of those changes and move forward. It is all about finding and meeting an unmet need. Delivering a product or services which didn't exist before.
His next book is
"The Proven Path to Unstoppable Ideas : BETTER and FASTER". Check out this link for sneak peeks including emerging trends. This time he writes about changing our mindset and especially our complacency which holds back innovation. The first part of his book identifies the traits of "farmers" those who rather stay put and continue doing what they have always done compared to the hunter's drive and proactive approach. 7 key tips on how to hunt are extensively covered in the book.
There are many fascinating real life examples in the book. The now defunct Blockbuster turned down many chances to buy Netflix but declined because their retail video rental business model was then working so well. Kodak actually had an inhouse scientist who invented the digital camera way back in 1976 but Kodak was too obsessed with quality film to take notice. By the time they reacted, it was too little and too late.
The one story which resonated was that of an individual, Robert Lang, a fiber optics engineer and scientist, who gave up his job at age 40 to do origami!
Watch this video with seemingly disconnected topics - paper planes, rocket ships, human hearts and origami. It is a valuable lesson in seeing patterns and potential and jumping on ideas from unrelated fields.
Thinking differently is an ability we all have. Children especially. Jeremy pointed out,
"Children , with their openness to serendipity and love of play, are naturally gifted at spotting divergent patterns. A famous study, asking how many uses a paper clip can be put to, showed that most adults can only fathom 10 or 15. Kindergarteners can dream up 200. Unfortunately, those abilites quickly atrophy with education and age."
The good news is creative designers do retain a lot of divergent thinking. It is also important to be adaptable and to focus on who your customers are. For example, too many jewelry artisans try and make designs which they hope will appeal to many. It is one of the traps Jeremy writes about in his book,
" Target everyone, and you're essentially targeting no one." Having good social insights and the ability to pick yourself up after repeated failures don't hurt either. Jack Dorsey, a programmer, came up with the idea of broadcasting text messages publicly - and
Twitter was born. After he got booted out from his CEO Twitter position, he listened to his friend, a glass artist, complaining about being unable to process credit card payments. So to the gratitude of all artisans and small business owners like us, he developed
Square - a simple and inexpensive system using smartphones so unlike what the banks were offering. He delivered a solution for a huge need. (Twitter also invited him back).
What Jeremy said in his book is absolutely true,
" If you take away only one message from this book, I hope it will be that the only real certainty in life is change." Before You Go: ______________________________
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