Trend analyst Zuzanna Skalska took graduate students on a journey through the trend research process during her ‘Designing Thoughts’ workshop last Friday. Zuzanna, an SDM visiting fellow, talked about the most significant changes in the new economies and how they influence our social and business environment. She pictured design industry going towards its end by transforming into more strategic and human-centered creative business. Zuzanna also explained why the capitalist economy, as we know it, is slowly changing towards the ‘scandinavism’ economy. After the detailed introduction students positioned themselves in the year 2025 and conducted trend analysis in speculative economic and technological scenarios during the workshop session.

The key take away is that trends are not really the point – the awareness of the world to come is what counts the most. Strategic designers have to be aware and understand the significance of current changes in the society, the global economy, politics and technology. Trend analysis is learning about the cause and effect of the discovered and observed patterns. During the workshop students were exposed to information that is needed to provide strategic advice for tomorrow’s businesses. ‘Designing Thoughts’ was an inspiring process explaining how to connect the past with presence to tell the future.