6 Ways to Keep on Top of Event Trends
Keep ahead of the curve with these six resources for the big ideas that will affect your business
Posted Sep 07, 2009 News | event design | innovation | trends
Which big ideas should be on your radar? To help keep your events fresh and your business leading the pack, we gathered together some of our favorite trend-spotting sites, whether you’re looking for innovations in business, inspiring design trends, or food and beverage ideas.
1. Trendingwatching.com
This site’s free, monthly Trend Briefings are not to be missed if you want to see the forest for the trees, showing the larger trends underlying diverse examples from around the world. A recent briefing cited corporate bloggers and tweeters, a San Francisco-based chocolatier that produces “beta editions” of its chocolates, and Google’s Latitude (which lets you see where people are geographically) as part of its “Foreverism” trend on how consumers and businesses are embracing conversations, relationships and products that are never done. For spot-on analysis, global perspective and big-picture context, this is your go-to resource.
2. Springwise
Springwise may bill itself as a source of business ideas, but it’s top-notch inspiration for the design mind and event entrepreneur as well. With its network of 8,000 “Springspotters” in over 70 countries worldwide, the site is able to serve up fresh innovations in style and design, tourism and travel, marketing and advertising, nonprofits, food & beverage, entertainment and other industries. Be sure to sign up for its weekly newsletter — a delicious and nutritious snack of inspiring ideas from around the globe.
3. TastingTable
Scrumptious for the mind and the taste buds, TastingTable is a free daily e-mail for “adventurous eaters” that covers dining, wine, drinks, cooking and people. With New York, Los Angeles and Chicago (and soon San Francisco) editions, TastingTable starts off your day with a tasty tidbit, covering everything edible from customizable energy bars to single-varietal artisanal honeys to coffee-flavored beer (Cappuccino Stout, anyone?).
4. Touchey
If 30-plus cool and unusual business card designs, 15-plus beautiful and clever products design, 15 ingenious lighting fixtures, and 10 creative brochure designs sound as intriguing to you as they do to us, we recommend checking out design blog Touchey. Its simple, clean layout, striking photos and consistently thought-provoking roundup of design standouts from diverse industries make it a must-bookmark.
5. Pantone
Every quarter, Pantone puts out a color report based on the runway trends of the season that never fails to give you the inside track on the colors, shapes and styles that will be soon heating up. By surveying the designers of New York Fashion Week, the organization identifies the 10 colors you should keep an eye on, and every year announces the Color of the Year (2009 is the year of Mimosa). Also keep an eye out for Pantone Color Institute Executive Director Leatrice Eiseman’s analysis of the larger cultural shifts behind hot colors.
6. The Color Association
Get a dose of color theory and practice when you log on to The Color Association’s blog-style home page. Dissecting color trends across numerous industries, including events, fashion, food, art and retail, the site shows the power of color in everything from the North Carolina Tar Heels’ light blue jerseys to wall “tattoos” and more.