MACRO

2023 + BEYOND

As we launch our first Design Forecast of the year, we are looking to the forces that drive us all to pursue change and shifts in perspective – macro trends. These trends usher in big themes that will stay with us for a longer trend cycle, and eventually dictate the more specific micro trends to come. If macro trends are the Titans – micro trends are the gods that follow.

Our collection of macro trends which we share in this Feature come together under a loose theme that is best summed up in the following Greek Proverb:

“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”

The macro trends in this Feature seem to be an exploration of what kind of ‘trees’ we will plant. Society is teetering on a point where futureproofing and progress are on the minds of many, and we are like teenagers experimenting to see what works, and what consequences will unfold. This mood accompanies a demographic shift which sees Boomers with time and money to fund new ventures influenced by the open and pragmatic Gen Z – leaving Gen X and Millennials in the middle to put the plans and money into action.

Through this macro exploration, themes of perspective, wellness, branding, purpose, technology, and play emerge. We are ever optimistic about the future.