The “Innovators
are the individuals who are responsible for the development of an innovation or
the introduction of a new idea.
The Innovators may not have created the original idea but they are the
people who articulate it in a way that makes sense to other members of their
tribe or group.
The” Early
Adapters” are connected to the Innovators, either close friends or colleagues and
are happy to be exposed to new ideas as they trust and respect the Innovators. The early Adapters usually have a high
degree of interconnections or involvement with other groups and are essential
for spreading the trends.
Forecasters use the term “critical mass” to describe the point at which
a trend becomes infectious few people can resist it. This is also known as the “tipping point”, or the point at
which a trend tips over from being a minority concern to a majority one that is
highly visible and influential.
The “Early
Majority” respects the Early Adapters and therefore take on the trends. These are usually highly sociable
people, usually active on-line. Making
up a large percentage of the public they are followers but will follow opinions
of those they trust. These people
will stay with a trend for quite some time which will filter through to the
“Late Majority”.
The” Late
Majority” are conservative by nature and require high levels of reassurance and
explanation about how a new idea will work and how they can benefit from it
before they buy into it. They are
a large percentage of the population.
Quite often the trend would have been adopted by this crowd in a watered
down format. This crowd are easier
to target and their tastes easier to define therefore many companies
concentrate their efforts servicing this group because it is easier to imitate
than it is to innovate
“Laggards”
are the slowest to adopt new ideas.
They are usually conservative and traditionalists, and would need a lot
of reassurance to try something new.
When a trend has been adopted by the Laggards trend forecasters refer to
it as being “flat-lined”, the end of a trend being useful to a forecaster.
Diffusion of
Innovations – Everett M. Rogers”
Definition of a Trend Forecaster
Trend forecasters are lifestyle
detectives: men and women who spend their time detecting patterns or shifts in
attitudes, mindsets, or lifestyle options, that run against current thinking or
how people normally behave, live, dress, communicate, and trade.
Definition of a Trend
A trend can be emotional,
intellectual, and even spiritual.
A trend can be defined as a direction which something tends to move and
which has consequential impact on the culture, society, or business sector
through which it moves.
The words “style” or “movement” are
sometimes used to describe the changes taking place over a period of time. Style is a distinctive manner,
aesthetic, method, or way of expressing something “new”, while a trend is the
“direction” in which something new or different moves. So a style is about difference, while a
trend is about difference and the direction along which that difference
travels.
Martin Raymond – The Trend Forecasters
Handbook
This is some guidance for our trip in 3 weeks, where we will look at street style in 3 different locations in london.
Street Style
Many
forecasters use street style to inform their opinions of trends. The key to carrying out street style
observations comes through 3 processes:
Observations
Intuition
Interrogation
First chose
an appropriate place to carry out the street watching. Look at the streets façade (the retail
business & leisure space it contains) look at the people walking by (their style
& ethnicity) and define the streets purpose (for recreational use, retail,
leisure, business). If a street is
located in a popular “Innovator zone” then note the technology people are
using.
Always take
a notebook to record your findings, intuitions about the scene & people
& record any questions & answers when approaching public. Take a camera to capture imagery of
both the street scene and the people.
Be prepared
with a list of questions you may ask the public. Do not ask too many questions but be direct with relevant
questions.
Ask to take
their photo and advise them how you will use image – i.e in your own private
work, on a blog, pinterest etc
Look at how
to set out your findings. Is this
written up in the style of WGSN street style report, or a magazine article etc.
