5 IDEAS TO SEE US INTO 2023
At The Liminal Space we pay attention to what we are seeing and sensing to inform all our client work. Stepping into the new year, we’ve cast our eye on some of the wider cultural and marketing trends of the moment, and how these shifts will shape our thinking and practice in 2023.
This began as a broad and open exploration. But we quickly realised that these themes speak to one overarching idea: a craving for connection — both to others and to ourselves.
We wanted to share them with you and would love to know your thoughts. How do these fit, or not, with what you’re seeing? Are there other emerging trends you’re excited by that we’ve missed? Let us know!
1. HYPER-PHYSICAL ENGAGEMENT
Through 2022 brands have been producing sensorially exaggerated retail installations, defined as hyper-physical. Sensitising textures are a hallmark. Friendly materials like feathers and inflatables are overdone until they feel uncanny, but also soothe by inviting us to touch and play. See Louis Vuitton’s bouncy castle or LEGO’s Fly Away Isles — a tactile playground co-created with local kids to encourage anyone — but especially adults — to play more.
For some of our upcoming work with museums and brands we’re workshopping different forms of tactile design to arrest attention, frame information and deepen engagement. Opening in February 2023, Cut + Paste, our forthcoming exhibition with The Francis Crick Institute, uses tactile, multisensory interactions to explore Genome Editing and the ethical questions this rapidly advancing science poses. Playful design invites audiences with no scientific background to understand genome editing and contribute their views on an issue that will affect us all.
2. RITUAL FULFILMENT
Micro-rituals that help break up long days spent at home are continuing long after lockdowns — from people streaming their daily trip to the supermarket to an audience of millions, to teens making elaborate shrines in their bedrooms and sharing them with TikTok communities. We’re exploring the rich references and sense of theatre in these secular rituals to inform the way we can heighten content across the experiences we are designing for brands, charities and cultural spaces. How can pattern and repetition create a rhythm and a basis for people to feel confident to participate and engage?
3. INFINITE SPACE
‘World-building’ is the brand marketing phrase of 2022, spurred on by epic fantasy and sci fi screen adaptations, and by continued fascination with the metaverse.
Worlds invite us to get lost within, caught up in scenery and unsure of their boundaries. Because world-building prioritises belonging, brands can break free of traditional product categories and jump into new offerings. As long as something makes sense within the world, it might just work. Take ‘Vacation’, for example, which began as a radio station called Poolsuite and moved into apparel, sunscreen, radio and a virtual leisure community. Inspired by this fluidity, we’ve been challenging ourselves on how we might group, dismantle and re-group ideas to come up with creative solutions to complex strategic challenges. How can seemingly very different concepts be brought together to create something more impactful?
4. NAVIGATING NEURODIVERSITY
As neurodiversity becomes more widely understood and discussed, the opportunity to connect with different forms of human experience is significant. British TikToker @rubyofmyeye shares her autism in a way that we find frank and funny. We also loved the documentary adaptation of The Reason I Jump, which uses sensory immersion to take us viscerally into the lives of autistic people; including those who are non-verbal. With a recent Deloitte survey finding that 10–20% of the workforce is neurodiverse, we’re asking: how can we protect specific needs of individuals while pushing for inclusivity?
We always consider access and sensory processing differences in our design, but we want to think more about how each of us draws meaning from content. How might the person standing next to me interpret this exhibit, in a way I might never imagine? Art and design are powerful tools to reach people who are often excluded from public dialogue- as designers, how can we illuminate this?
5. TALKING IT OVER
Perceptions of therapy, particularly amongst young people, are shifting, from a provision reserved only for those in crisis or with financial means, to a service that should be freely available to everyone who needs to access it. Changing attitudes come partly from the understanding that there are a lot of external and societal issues to be anxious about. The barrier, of course, is timely availability of affordable options.
What kind of accessible models might work? We’ve seen that in the US, some libraries are acting as mental health hubs, while the founders of SoulCycle have founded ‘Peoplehood’- a series of guided group talking circles resembling a quasi-religious or AA meeting, receiving a mixed response from the public.
At the moment, there are many ‘alone-together’ activities in public spaces, from tai chi in the park to yoga in the Natural History Museum. So far, so good, but it seems there’s a real desire for more opportunities to be together-together, too. Meditation and deep listening skills- typical in the legal, diplomatic and social justice arenas (and applied in the brilliant radio show Across the Red Line)- will become valuable methods to help bring people who feel divided or unable to bridge differences in attitudes and values together.
With 9 in 10 UK students struggling from feelings of anxiety, we’re building a permanent wellbeing space at King’s College London. Following on from the success of the Garden of Emotions, the Wellbeing Garden will be a multisensory haven for students and staff to access resources and take a moment to unwind and reset.
LET’S WORK TOGETHER
Leading with rigour that stretches beyond snappy marketing copy and slick visuals is a magic recipe for aligning teams and guiding your organisation. Using the latest trends, groundbreaking research and creative approaches, we can help you find meaningful solutions to your business or organisation’s most challenging problems. Get in touch to find out how we can work together: sarah@the-liminal-space.com.
With contributions from Lizzie Olstrom
