Mapping the Zeitgeist

Where do transformative ideas come from and how do they change our world? We spend a lot of our time thinking about this question and listening for the new ideas that are gaining momentum around us.

We believe that ideas are on a journey from our personal and collective unconscious into consciousness, emerging over time through symbols, memes, tension, and what we choose to emphasize as a culture. With the appropriate traction, these ideas will ultimately be the foundation for new systems.

Brands emerge from new ideas as well, and we intuitively connect with them because of this. We love brands that are born out of something immediately reflective of our culture. This isn’t just paying lip service to trending movements (thanks but no thanks Gillette), but existing as a real embodiment of change. In this cultural moment of democratization, a standout example is Glossier. They’ve established an empathic connection with their audiences, co-creating the future of products and redefining standards of beauty together. This isn’t marketing, it’s in the DNA of their company and the reason for their success. Glossier is an expression, in company form, of the idea that consumers can be empowered help guide brands they interact with everyday.

When we are bold enough to use the word “new,” we have to mean it.

More than ever before, brands can be born out of, revisioned by, or help amplify a cultural moment, by listening for emergent ideas.

Listening for new ideas involves pattern recognition, association, and finding meaning behind the “noise.” As we’re listening, we can ask ourselves: What are the underlying issues that are calling to be remodeled by new ideas? If something is failing or no longer culturally relevant, is it because of outmoded thinking? Where else are similar failures showing up? Tension feels situational and isolated, but is actually symptomatic of something deeper and asking for a new solution to be designed.

We love brands that are born out of something immediately reflective of our culture.

When our systems are out of whack or up for review, the unconscious will initiate new events, symbols and dialogue that are the first waves of recalibration. It is our job as shepherds of new ideas to start making sense of this input from the unknown and give it creative expression. We do this through developing new habits, new language, new products, new brands.

When we are bold enough to use the word “new,” we really have to mean it. When seeking radical transformation, humility is the appropriate mindset. The unknown is our co-designer and we can cultivate an active dialogue with it, but in the process we have to revaluate our own habits and assumptions.

As brand designers, our brilliance is in the way we make connections. We must listen, associate, organize and articulate the new around us.

Design for what is coming, not what is here.