The design industry is going through a period of radical change, so it is important for the profession to “find its center” — ground itself and explore what really matters. The American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) helped its members make sense of the industry and its direction in its 2024 Trends Outlook, which underscores the importance of authenticity and connection.
This desire to connect is seen in both residential and commercial spaces, in leisure and travel, in health and wellness. Design is also being impacted by generational and societal changes.
The ASID 2024 Trends Outlook is designed to identify shifts in societal and demographic trends impacting, or predicted to impact, interior design in the year ahead. Key findings in 2024 explore four overarching trends that will impact the design practice in transformative ways: consumers’ desire for connection, the allure of quiet luxury, blurred lines between live-work-and-play, and the intersection of sustainability and wellness with life and business.
Compiled from a broad scan of media sources, as well as the Pew Research Center, the U.S. Census Bureau, along with ASID research and surveys, the report offers a comprehensive view of American life and assesses the implications for the interior design and adjacent communities.
“The world today recognizes the leading role design plays in impacting the ways we live, work, learn, play and heal,” said Khoi Vo, chief executive officer, ASID. “This report serves as a compass to guide us in the year ahead, knowing that design is critical when considering everything from personal wellness to a corporation’s bottom line. As the largest professional organization serving all sectors of the interior design community, ASID is dedicated to providing our community with tools to impact the world through design.”
Work-life balance continues to dominate the conversation and will continue to affect the office and home in 2024, according to the report. The issue is especially difficult for women, said ASID Research Fellow S. Dawn Haynie.
“When we looked into this and thinking about it particularly as it relates to employment, I found a 2023 Gallup survey which suggested that 69% of women were considering leaving their organization and taking a different job to gain greater work-life balance and personal and better personal wellbeing, whether that’s relief from long hours or high pressured managers or just the demand for productivity at the expense of wellbeing,” she said. “And 62% would leave if if they were allowed in a new job to better utilize their talents. The way we’re seeing it is that women are simply setting boundaries around their careers and they’re demanding more flexibility. They’re demanding fair compensation and balance.”
In work and retirement, the ASID report found that age is influencing workplace preferences. Gen Z and Baby Boomers, are reporting being lonely and — to a greater degree — want to be in person to make connections. Millennials tend to be at the age where they already created and established connections and might have young children at home, and prefer the flexibility of being home.
Generationally, the workplace changed during the pandemic, said Primo Orpilla, principal and founder of Studio O+A. The generations in the workplace prior to COVID used technology differently than the generation that came into the workplace at a time when technology was the only way to connect.
“We need to create higher levels of engagement for both parties,” he said. “We do need to think about new typologies. This life online has really permeated the need for real organic face-to-face meetings, and I think that’s what we’re going to see, but we’re also going to see this balance for those who have elected choose where they’re going to work today because that’s the best place (for them). If there’s a need for a higher level of concentration, then yes, I can work at home. If there’s a need for a higher level of engagement and collaboration, then I should go to work. It’s really put the onus on the workforce, workplace managers and designers to come up with new solutions for this next generation of workplace.”
Vo said designers are beginning to see team building designed to make sure schedules align. While hybrid work — in some form or another — is likely here to stay, alignment becomes critical.
“Especially when you have a large workforce, when they decide to come in or when they are asked to come in, the entire team needs to be there together versus a flexible schedule where they start to miss each other because one person is scheduled to be at home and one is scheduled to be in the workplace. It defeats the purpose of coming together if there is not alignment.”
Orpilla said since Millennials are becoming senior members of the team and they generally prefer the flexibility of work-from-home, mentorship is suffering. “If they’re not in and they can’t rub off on these new employees, then you lose a lot of that personal growth and mentorship that we used to have just naturally in the office. So we need to create new ways for that opportunity to happen over and over again by making the office a special place with great experiences that people want to come together and have,” he said.
Many companies are renovating spaces rather than relocating in 2024. And many employers need to switch up their footprint to meet the demands of their new workforces. While the office footprint for many companies is shrinking, Orpilla said they need to gain efficiency.
Companies need to not only reduce space, but mold the workplace into a new shape altogether. Unassigned workspaces, or hot desking, are becoming more accepted and meeting spaces are being designed so they can expand and contract. The office is looking more like hospitality or a conference center, he said.
“A lot of these new spaces need resources to make them work — new types of furniture that is more flexible and you can use to create sequestered, more private spaces. It’s a rethinking of the way we use the workplace in a much more flexible manner.”
Shared spaces in office buildings are becoming the norm. Conference rooms and large training rooms are being shared by tenants. Best in class is no long going to be mahogany walls, he said. Instead, expect to see things like climbing walls, bars, cafes and full gyms being added as a way to attract workers back to the office.
“You just can’t stick a little couple of exercise machines in an office and call it a day. You need to build a full gym. It has to be on level with the finest gym that (a worker) could go to because that’s who you’re competing against,” said Oprilla.
It will be different for every company, he said. Some will add gyms to attract employees and focus on mental health and wellbeing. Others will look to collaboration and family alignment.
“It’s great for the designer because now we’re journey mapping all these different experiences for the whole spectrum; we’re trying to figure out what is going to make them want to come back. And again, it is the wonderful work by ASID to compose all this information that we can use. So when we go to our markets, we can actually talk about these things intelligently and bring them all to bear as we do our consulting,” said Oprilla. “We are relearning what it is to work.”
The 2024 report also details trends impacting the different sectors of design, highlighting the effects of these trends in both residential and commercial spaces:
Wellness in Gathering Spaces: Like many restaurants and bars, kitchens are now using large window walls to connect visually with the outdoors, while living rooms are using retractable window panels to extend spaces onto patios. Beyond increasing the ease of entertaining, connecting both visually and physically with nature has been shown to reduce blood pressure and heart rates and improve engagement, attentiveness and cognitive performance.
Aging in Place: More than one in four adults fall each year and the fear of falling can limit older adults, resulting in further physical decline, depression and social isolation. According to the National Institute on Aging, many people want to stay in their own home and maintain independence for as long as possible, and they will need help to retrofit their homes. “Innovative solutions that enable the elderly to remain in their own homes for longer, rather than taking up space in hospitals, hospices and nursing homes” are increasingly important as a significant number of the population ages.
Blending Sustainability & Wellness: As companies and designers think holistically about creating environments that support better human health, many are increasingly recognizing the interconnectedness of individual health, community health and environmental stewardships. With many firms implementing tactics in both buildings and employee programs to synthesize sustainability and wellness, we’re seeing an increase in design decisions contributing to personal wellness and building health including better indoor air quality, increased natural light, and other amenities. Sustainability is especially prevalent in 2024 as we tackle extreme weather events with most Americans believing that climate change is harming people in the U.S. and likely to get worse.
The Trends Outlook Report is the first of ASID’s three-part Outlook report series; with parts two and three, the Economic Outlook and State of Interior Design, to be released later this year. The three-part research series is generously sponsored by Sherwin Williams. Available for download on the ASID website, the Trends Report is included in ASID membership and is available for purchase for $150 for non-members.