If you ever get to Japan make sure you get a look at the 'man hole covers'  - YES I said the man hole covers.  There are a huge variety to be found and shows that basic utility product need not be boring and in certain cases could provide an interesting advertising medium or public art project.

Here are a taste and if anyone has good alternatives let us know..

 

Edward Swan the branding and PR people have joined our trendsfordesign.com community.  As branding and PR consultants they deliver marketing solutions for clients in many sectors and need to keep on top of the emerging trends that are happening. 

As well as taking advantage of our consulting services they are planning to contribute to the community in order to drive a resource that is always providing inspitation and suprises.

The name was inspired and derived from the Russian “LOMO” cameras. Lomography not only refers to photographs taken with the LOMO camera, but can also apply to casual photography taken with any ordinary camera.

The characteristics of Lomo photographs are oversaturated colors, extreme optical distortions, rainbow-colored subjects, off-kilter exposure, blurring and alternative film processing, all things usually considered bad in photography. In short, Lomography is the act of taking photographs without thinking, and ignoring the established rules of “good” photography.

We havn't been able to credit all images so apologies - let us know if you know.

 

 

We see it everyday and yet it becomes the norm but there are trends to be found out on the street from the people who represent Graffiti as an art form that is unrestricted, one that rebels against conventional forms of artwork. Graffiti is intertwined into human history, dating back to the Roman Empires where they were plastered onto walls to make political statements and satirize current events.

Modern graffiti achieves many of the same things - to state a message that doesn’t necessarily fit into the norms of society.

The following inspiration comes from  http://www.ekosystem.org/

  The following inspiration comes from http://www.banksy.co.uk

 

apologies for not crediting some pictures - if you know let us know.

 

Visit the blog that Zamsoe have now embedded on their website!

Zamsoe has joined the Trends for Design Community and will soon be launching their own blog and blog widget.

Established in 2001 Zamsoe designs contempory hand made greeting cards, jewellery and art which it sells through lifestyle retailers and galleries around the UK.

Further details are to follow with some of their design inspiration.

www.zamsoe.com

If you are a designer we would like you to join our community and share what you think is cool design, what is contempory and setting trends in design.

Sharing your inspiration and current designs will raise your profile and prompt working relationships.

So if you are a student, executive, marketer or designer we want you to sign up to add your views and photo's.  We are just starting so let your friends know and invite people to view your FREE blog on our site.

Yes you will get your own FREE web pages, RSS news feed, Widget to add to other website.

To join the community contact us using our Contact page or email us direct on theteam@trendsfordesign.com

We are also trend consultants and can work with your company direct to help you plan 'design' with the peace of mind  that it is based on what is happening out there and is influencing your target audience - all this is based on our community feedback and our other design research projects so forecasting where you are going is made more 'reliable'.  We also have online trend reports available to purchase for market sectors.

As we are just launching the site come back soon as we will be adding content over the next week!