We see the birth of products that merge the animal and the technological, endowing them with human

emotions. This is about objects that come to life.

It is about function and communicating ideas through look, feel and interaction.

Surfaces grow fur, forms are soft and rounded, and data becomes a raw material, as the hyper-technical turns hyper-cute.

As the pace of innovation slows slightly, technologists and designers are working together to make personal technology develop friendly traits, making gadgets more like familiar companions.

While objects are taking on human and animal qualities, science begins to explore the real potential of crossovers between species, not in a frightening, Frankenstein way, but in order to make our lives better.

A new design approach for a changing world - TransDesign.

Social designer Anastasija Mass created the Locus Chair to reconnect body and emotion, achieving perfect relaxation.

The idea of comfort is taken up a level as we look to furniture for more than just functional support think of this as a big hug.

Thomas Tait introduced these emotive glasses for his spring/summer 2012 collection.

Accessories inspired by emotions allow us the freedom to wear an expression and take it off again, as easily as you would a pair of sunglasses.

Cross-fire, directed by Geoffrey Mann, takes an excerpt of an argument from film American Beauty and animates it, so that the tension is felt by the objects on the dining room table.

In the video Cross-fire household objects distort physically as they absorb and react to the mood changes of their human owners.

Johannes Kopf and Dani Lischinski use algorithms to enhance retro gaming characters, giving them a softer, more humanised appeal.

The old digital language is changing due to more sophisticated technology. Turning hard edges into soft lines and creating jelly-like shapes evolves our perception of things and exaggerates basic emotions.

Esquires Grooming Spectacular edition shows animal inspiration as a bold avenue for styling.

Adopting shapes and textures from the animal kingdom is a simple introduction to cross-fertilisation as a direction for styling.

Magnhild Disingtons Future Connections series challenges the neutrality of technological gadgets by giving them emotional surface textures.

Hand-held products like phones, tablets and music devices grow soft furry pelts as they become tactile technological pets.

Momo, a haptic navigational device, uses only the sense of touch to guide the user and has a soft and cute exterior that vibrates and leans towards your direction.

A pair of ears on a knitted cover adds kawaii and personality to a piece of soul-less technology, widening its appeal beyond the tech-geek community.

These behavioural chairs transform domestic interiors into character-filled environments.

Our closer relationship with products is important, but the way they behave together takes on animal traits too.

The organic behaviour of plants is used as a starting point for this digital visualisation work by artist Quayola.

As technology moves closer to creating artificial life, algorithms emerge as a new tool for creating organic art, music and fashion based on numbers.

Data visualisation simplifies complex information, here showing the 9 out of 75,000 variations in the FOXP2 gene that differentiates chimp from human.

Data visualisation is a discipline, adopted by designers who are helping us understand and use the technological worlds data overload. Bytes of data become a new creative material.

Transpose by Robert Hodgin and Aaron Koblin uses code to transform information into a digital landscape.

As algorithms learn to think alone, they help us explore shapes and forms thought up by computers rather than humans.

The Mathew Miller Concept Shirt video shows the 3D construction, algorithmic pattern-making and digital printing of the perfect white shirt.

Fashion designer Matthew Miller has perfected the white shirt by using computer algorithms as a radical new process for classic design.

In Transgenic Bestiary by Nicolas Myers players aim to create viable hybrid creatures from a database of DNA.

Key to this trend is transformation, offering up new solutions to old problems and presenting us with new tools with which to move forward. As a starting point, we provide inspiration for a new visual language.

The Immateriality: Future Human series by Jenny Lee encourages us to question how drastically we would change our appearance if technology allowed it.

Beautiful mutants are created using digital skins that overlay natural decoration like petals onto bodies through an augmented reality.

In the Nano Cookbook, Priyanka Gaitonde gives us imaginary recipes for eggs which can be activated by a code to create info-electric-biotic dishes a way of visualising scientific developments.

Changing the physical state of an egg, Nano Cookery demonstrates how shape and texture can be transformed by re-imagining it at a molecular level.

LOOK A LITTLE FURTHER

LISTEN:
Talk to Me by Paola Antonelli www.youtube.com

BE INSPIRED:
The POSTextiles collective of designers postextiles.com

VISIT:
SuperBodies, 3rd Hasselt Triennale for contemporary art, fashion and design February 4 - May 27 2012 www.superbodies.be

SEE:
Pauline Von Dongens design collections www.paulinevandongen.nl

Macro Trends Credits: Living design

Slide 1 Title: Personas series by Elizabeth Bick Source: www.erbick.com Slide 2 Title: Thomas Tait spring/summer 2012 Source: Valerio Mezzanotti for The New York Times. As seen at runway.blogs.nytimes.com Slide 3 Title: Gravity Stool by Jlan van der Wiel, 2011 Source: jolanvanderwiel.nl Title: Renderman Fur project by Shannon Dingle Source: As seen at www.sfdm.scad.edu Slide 4 Source: Love, autumn/winter 2011/12 Title: Shadows Reject the Dogs by Aleksey Bedny Source: As seen at 500px.com Slide 5 Title: Modern Amulet series by Magnhild Disington, 2009 Source: www.magnhilddisington.com Slide 6 Title: Seven Creepy Experiments That Could Teach us so Much (If They Werent so Wrong) by Bartholomew Cooke Source: Wired, August 2011 Slide 7 Title: This is TransDesign, 2011 Source: As seen at transdesign.parsons.edu Slide 8 Title: Locus Chair by Anastasija Mass, 2011 Source: As seen at www.designacademy.nl Slide 9 Title: Thomas Tait spring/summer 2012 Source: Valerio Mezzanotti for The New York Times. As seen at runway.blogs.nytimes.com Slide 10 Title: Cross-fire from the Natural Occurrence series by Geoffrey Mann, 2011 Source: Stuart Johnstone. As seen at www.moma.org Slide 11 Title: 8-Bit Games by Johannes Kopf & Dani Lischinski, 2011 Source: As seen at discordar.com.br Slide 12 Source: Esquire, October 2011 Slide 13 Title: Future Connections series by Magnhild Disington, 2009 Source: www.magnhilddisington.com Slide 14 Title: Momo by Che-Wei Wang, 2007 Source: cwwang.com Title: Momo by Che-Wei Wang, 2007 Source: As seen at www.lilwondermat.com Title: Momo by Che-Wei Wang, 2007 Source: cwwang.com Slide 15 Source: As reported on WGSN Slide 16 Title: Natures by Quayola with Mira Calix & Oliver Coates, 2009 Source: www.quayola.com Title: Form Follows Data series by Ethan Hein Source: As seen at butdoesitfloat.com Slide 17 Title: Humans vs Chimp by Ben Fry, 2008 Source: benfry.com Slide 18 Title: Transpose by Aaron Koblin and Robert Hodgin Source: As seen at www.gaffta.org Slide 19 Title: Matthew Miller Source: Fashion156, January 2011 Title: The Matthew Miller Concept Shirt video Source: As seen at mrmatthewmiller.tumblr.com Slide 20 Title: Transgenic Bestiary series by Nicolas Myers, 2011 Source: As seen at www.di09.rca.ac.uk Title: Transgenic Bestiary series by Nicolas Myers, 2011 Source: As seen at www.di09.rca.ac.uk Slide 21 Title: Immateriality: The Future Human series by Jenny Lee Source: jennylee.org.uk Title: The Renaissance of Colors by Alberto Seveso Source: As seen at www.behance.net Slide 22 Title: The Nano Cookbook, 2011 Source: As seen at www.priyankagaitonde.com Title: Micro-Nutrient Couture by Emily Crane, 2010 Source: emilycrane.co.uk