Trends: Looking To The Skies For Design Inspiration

Words by MPDClick’s guest contributor Selena Marie Norris.

Encouraged by the increased optimism about the world of technology and science, the past few months have been an astonishing time for humanity. Here we follow the influence of nature and technology on current trends. With the speed of technological advancements continuously increasing, consumers are looking to the future and the skies with high hopes.

On October 14th 2012, Felix Baumgartner performed a supersonic freefall from 120,000 ft reaching “690 miles per hour in 40 seconds or less,” essentially becoming the first man to freefall from such heights that he broke the sound barrier. On October 7th, the Space X mission launched the Falcon 9 Dragon into orbit, as the first commercial cargo mission to the International Space Station. Thanks to social media and live broadcasts, viewers watched the Space X Falcon 9 Dragon launch live on Space.com. In September 2012, Youtube sponsored a global science contest for teens through the Youtube Spacelab hosted live by none other than American scientist and entertainer/educator, Bill Nye the Science Guy. The winning prize: to see their experiments carried out on the I.S.S. Of course let’s not forget the Mars Curiosity rover which landed on the surface of Mars on August 6th 2012. It was sent to the red planet by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States of America and became an internet meme because of the 7 Minutes of Terror video.

Emulate this interest in space within future design and look for celestial inspirations, as well as subtle hints of science with prints loosely alluding to retro futurism, constellations, astronomy, atomic and genetic structures, and scientific plant identification. Keep in mind the customer’s highest desire is for technology that blends seamlessly and naturally into their lives with style that maintains function and adds value through simple meaningful design. When creating your assortments, don’t forget to include tech accessories like tablet cases, smartphone skins, and fingerless gloves or mittens for texting. This is a key look that was actually forecast by MPDClick for AW 11/12 which has continued to develop into seasons beyond. MPDClick subscribers can click here to view our initial research for our trends ‘Innovate’ and ‘Primal’ for more inspiration. This celestial print trend was also highlighted in a recent Trend Journal post here by our partners at Printsource NY.

Image source from top: Supersonic freefall - redbullstratos.com; Above from left:The Hidden Fires of the Flame Nebula; The Cool Clouds of Carina – space.com

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This post originally appeared on OCTOBER 19, 2012 in S/S 13, SS 13 on MPDClick.com, a leading trend forecasting company based in the UK.

Update: MPDClick.com and Mudpie Trend Journal were acquired by WGSN in 2013.  All Mudpie and MPDClick links are now void. A cached copy of the original post can be viewed here.

Words by MPDClick’s guest contributor Selena Marie Norris.