Creativity and Trends Day: rethinking design through the senses and emotions

On April 11th, the Creativity and Trends Day turned the Barcelona Museum of Design into a meeting point for the talent representing the design and creative industries. The fourth edition revolved around the need for conceiving multisensory experiences as a means to generate emotions in the audience, such as empathy and affection, and connecting them to brands.

Isabel Mesa from WGSN, a British agency leading in the field of trend analysis, kicked started the events. Her presentation “Emotions 2.0” looked into the different strategies that are already being implemented in order to establish a link with customers, such as facial recognition as a payment method. “The client experience will beat the product as a business argument”, she affirmed. According to Isabel, it is essential for brands to design from emodiversity: “The more emotions we consider in the design process, the better it will be for our sense of welfare”. She also pointed out that “happiness is not the most important”, emotions such as “discomfort or boredom” are also to be taken into account.

Headlining philosopher and sociologist Gilles Lipovetsky took over with his masterclass on «artistic capitalism», which he defines as “the systematic incorporation of the aesthetic paradigm in everything that has to do with consumption”. For him, we as society are moving towards a consumption lead and inducted by the emotions, by experimentation. “We are witnessing a growing bulimia of cultural consumption, a logic lead by a search for sensations”, he admitted.

Three presentations followed, focused on how to go beyond brands and work emotions in order to create an image around it. “There are two worlds fighting like titans: the analog and the digital, that disassociate us from our most human part”. Miguel Espada, founder of creative studio Espadaysantacruz started his talk with this sentiment. He remarked that the current challenge of design and society in general is “making technology more human, accessible, so that it can communicate something harmonious with our universe”.

Karen Sátiro and Ana Isabel Rodríguez from the Mango user experience team dived into the need for making customers and employees feel comfortable and feel like the protagonist of an experience: “We are designers that create connections and design for people, with people”.

Food designer Elsa Yranzo was the last to present. She talked about different ways of combining gastronomy, design and art through gastronomic experiences, and in doing so communicating concepts and ideas such as feminism. “Food has textures, smells, shapes, a social context that helps me tell stories”, said. “Eating is no longer a need but has become a trend, an art form and a mode of expression”, concluded.

During the afternoon workshops, attendees took a look at stitching, wallpapers, ceramics and graphic design. Materials and the emotions that they awaken in us, played a key role in our understanding of how to introduce them into a creative process.

We are very looking forward to seeing you again in the fifth edition of the Creativity and Trends Day!