CMF WORKSHOP

2023 CMF Trend Forecasting Workshop

Rina

The trend forecasting workshop is one of the most popular among all. I try to host it whenever I am back in Taiwan. Since I’ve recorded the previous workshops in Mandarin Chinese, this time I will recap in English for a change! ?

This year was a little bit different because I also added a new workshop in the curriculum. I was delighted to find that most participants signed up for both workshops, Sustainable CMF & Design Thinking on Saturday, and CMF Trend Forecasting on Sunday, and turning it into a fantastic weekend of CMF knowledge and hands-on fun.

I’m absolutely loving it and already dreaming about how I can bring this energy to New York!

This is where the workshop happens in Taiwan, a restored mid-century house and now a co-share co-care space for artists and creators. Visit Sogood Bridge to find out more.
I find trend forecasting most suitable for 6 to 10 people, so we have some good brains for inputs and still intimate enough to feel comfortable about sharing our thoughts.

Before I get started with more photo walk-throughs, I want to point out that this workshop is not intended to generate actual trend findings. The purpose is for participants, usually who haven’t practiced trend forecasting previously, to simulate and get a good sense of how it is done.

To give an example, participants from previous years have brought this experience back to work, and utilized the step-by-step methodology to work through a trend forecasting exercise with their colleagues. Read the methodology: Unwrapping CMF Design on Trend Forecasting, Believe or Not?

This workshop only takes a day, 4-6 hours to be exact, while most trend forecasting process at a company can take 4 to 10 weeks depending on what you call as the final deliverable. Faster if your goal is to generate something quick (e.g. a digital palette), and slower if you are prototyping and visualize CMF concepts on mockups.

What we would do at Motorola was to take the preliminary outputs from trend forecasting workshops and work together with Industrial Designers to brainstorming on ID and CMF elements, and then prototyped these ideas on physical mockups or CMF samples. This process, with no doubt, consumed a longer schedule but for a result that was much more valuable for the design team at Motorola.

What I am trying to say is, trend forecasting can be a long process. But that also allows you to have time to pause and digest for a good reason. And that is why this one-day workshop is not to generate actual trend findings even though we do use factual references in our steps.

We start the practice with diving into political and social events that have happened in the past year.
Starting with events that have influenced how consumers behave and feel, we start to grab keywords.
What do these happenings mean to us? How are they shaping our lifestyles and emotions?
Each participant then picks a theme that they are mostly interested in, and start with translating these consumer emotions into visual elements.
This is a process that normally at a company can be done digitally. I didn’t want a workshop with everyone staring at their own screens, so we are using magazines!
Visualizing design elements also includes color swatches.
Visualizing design elements also includes color and material samples. Which materials make you feel soothing? Which materials make you feel cured from what have been happening around the world?
Student work – in progress. Throughout the workshop, I will also give tips on how to compose a mood board: how to balance it, what to keep and what not, do’s and dont’s.
Student work – in progress.
Student work – in progress.
Student work. Lastly but not least, each person shares their work and explain why they decided to use these samples on the mood board. Storytelling is important!
Student work.
Student work.
And that wraps up the entire workshop! Thank you all for coming!

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Problem-solving CMF Fixer. Formerly manages the CMF Design team at Motorola, and currently a New York-based and world-traveling Design Consultant with specialty in CMF Design since 2011. 高雄囡仔，前世帶領摩托羅拉CMF設計團隊，今生定居於紐約並遊牧世界，任自由撰稿人兼CMF設計顧問，持續投入在CMF設計的科普推廣，並為提供CMF專案支持或諮詢服務。
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