Nice article in todays edition of Metro about what to expect in 2014. Ponderings from myself, IanPearson and James Bellini. Article here.
BTW, nice slideshow here from Ross Dawson about why 2014 is the year of the crunch – when cumulative change is reaching the point of fundamental disruption in many aspects of society.
What are your views on the rise of the maker movement?
I think there may be a trend growing for less passive activities to more interactive and hands on things. Take shopping this is traditionally a ver passive activity. People browse products but have a low involvement. This is changing with things such as build-a-bear (where people can create and custom cloth their own teady bears) and pottery painting places where you can put your own designs on some products (plates and mugs). The Internet has had many of these for a while but I can see interactive retail as changing the retail space. Throw into this mix the maker movement and 3d printers and you could get some interesting new interactive retail appearing. I thing the libraries could be transformed by embarrassing this concept as well. So maybe the interactive experience that was reserved for the Savile Row suit may be open for everyone.
Happy new year
Mark
Just writing about 3D printing, which I guess connects. I agree with all you say. A desire for experiences beyond just products. Maybe it has something to do with involvement and satisfaction too. I need to think a bit more…. I will include something in the next but one issue of What’s Next (not the one out in a couple of weeks (issue 34) but the one after that).