Now that we’re well into summer, with fall creeping up on the horizon (drop into any store and you’ll see boots and sweaters on display), NeoCon and Design Days are starting to feel like a distant memory. But a little distance lends perspective on the themes that recurred across presentations and cropped up in showroom displays, and processing time (preferably spent in the shade with a cool beverage) allows reflection on not only where design is now, but where design is going. From cross-integration to authentic storytelling to design futurism, certain subjects heralded what’s to come in 2025.
Here are the topics and takeaways we at IIDA are processing, prioritizing, and passing on for you to consider as we move into the future:
Cross-integration counts. Blended spaces and cross-disciplinary design have been on the rise for a minute; but now, more than ever, there is a desire to truly integrate inspiration, tactics and insights between disciplines. The increased prevalence of home-like comfort in work spaces; entertainment environments in hospitality; and hospitality approaches in healthcare are just a few examples of the ways in which these boundaries continue to blur. At IIDA, we often talk about the universality of design, and the impact of designers; the collective lean into cross-disciplinary approaches is an indicator of the power in those ideas.
The takeaway: All of design’s disciplines are adding to the discourse — and we should be listening intently. Designers who are exploring these cross-integrations will only benefit from the 360-degree point of view.
Authentic storytelling is everything. Without question, storytelling was the biggest theme of NeoCon 2024. Bob Weis, Gensler’s global entertainment leader and the former president of Walt Disney Imagineering, was our keynote speaker on IIDA Day at NeoCon. His seasoned insights? “Storytelling is powerful, emotional, and brings you back to center.” From cutting-edge technology to innovative design, years-long research, and obsessive detail, he continued, “It’s about the magic — or whatever you call the intangible thing that builds people’s connection to place.”
The takeaway: Weis said it best: “The story is design and design is the story.”
Culture and heritage can’t be ignored. With design storytelling on everyone’s minds this year, British-Nigerian multidisciplinary artist and designer Yinka Ilori’s keynote was particularly germane. Successful design storytelling involves integrating cultural and historical context, Ilori said. Designers can create beautiful resonance with “old narratives that we can share with the new generation. How can we respect the past and move into the future?”
The takeaway: To tell a good story, you need character development. To tell a good design story, you must develop genuine connections to people, place, and space. Meaningful design can’t be created in a vacuum.
Experience is the endgame. Via an eye-opening anecdote about nurses walking an egregious number of miles per day to deliver meds and applesauce to their patients at an Ohio hospital, NeoCon speaker Upali Nanda, global sector director, innovation, and a partner at HKS, got our attention and laid down the gauntlet. She said, “The design challenge of our time is the design of time. Experience is the value proposition for designers.”
The takeaway: Nanda went on to ask, “What is the return on experience for our clients?”
Carefully considering the answer to that question, case by case, is paramount.
Never underestimate neuroaesthetics. At both NeoCon and Design Days, it was evident that designers are taking the principles of neuroaesthetics to new heights to promote well-being, productivity, and enrichment. (Neuroaesthetics is a nascent field exploring how environmental elements like color, sound, and art impact individuals’ brains, emotions, and spatial experiences on a subconscious level.) IIDA’s live episode of our Collective Design series examined the topic at length. The panel, moderated by Mark Bryan, IIDA, senior foresight manager at the Future Today Institute and IIDA’s Futurist-in-Residence, delved into how experiential design is reshaping the industry.
The takeaway: Considering all of the senses for symphonic design — how layered design impacts feelings, contentment, connectedness, wholeness, and authenticity — is a high priority now and in the future, and eliciting satisfaction (and also, depending on the environment, productivity and peace) is a primary goal.
Start practicing strategic foresight. The practice of foresight has been around for a while, but the next wave is strategic foresight, an evidence-based approach to identifying plausible futures to ensure resilience as our industry and culture evolve. And I don’t need to tell you how important resilience is. To empower today’s multidisciplinary design professionals, firms, and manufacturers, IIDA launched its new Certified Design Futurist program, a first-of-its-kind educational opportunity that will teach design professionals how to practice strategic foresight. This fall, we will welcome a beta cohort of design professionals; initial enrollment will begin in early 2025 and demand is already high. (To stay abreast of enrollment details, sign up for updates here.)
The takeaway: At its very best, design anticipates what’s ahead. Designers are inherently creating spaces for the future, but those skills of foresight have never before been formalized and quantified into a recognized competency that is career-building and scope-enhancing for firms.
Don’t forget sustainability’s basic principles. HKS’s Director of Citizen and Sustainable Design Leader, Lisa Adams, participated in two events at NeoCon. At the summit, she summarized the key actions interior designers can take now to reduce global carbon emissions: practicing adaptive reuse and design for durability and reuse; employing materials that are carbon sinks; eliminating waste, and specifying only products and materials that meet sustainable design standards.
The takeaway: Sustainability is intrinsic to many design projects. A must-have. But greenwashing around the term is still too prevalent. So how do we stop that? By keeping it simple: Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Repeat.
A final thought: The generosity of design, and the willingness of innovators and icons to share their time, talents, and methodologies, never fails to inspire and delight me. From newcomers to CEOs, NeoCon and Design Days were full of people who are engaged and eager to unravel the magic of their work — and, in the process, motivate the designers of today and tomorrow to transcend the boundaries of our industry.
That’s perhaps the biggest takeaway, in design and in life: To create a more sustainable, integrated, advanced built environment that serves everyone, we must embrace knowledge-sharing and a spirit of authentic collaboration. Design thinkers are the savviest minds on the planet; when design professionals work in concert, we are guaranteed to craft a more evolved, enlightened, and humane future.