The Forecast Club has recorded the new seminar under the theme “Common Grounds”. Here are all the details about it.
September is here, and with it comes a new cycle of trends. So, what will shape the years ahead? And perhaps more importantly: how do we make sense of a world that feels increasingly uncertain?
Here is the behind-the-scenes story of how The Forecast Club prepared its new global trend seminar for 2027–2028 and beyond.
Late in August, seven of my eight international trend forecasters travelled to Stockholm to record our second digital seminar. We spent almost two full days working, presenting, debating and, perhaps most importantly, discussing what is happening around us. Our eighth member and Chinese representative, Xiaojing Huang, joined us digitally.
Under one common theme, each forecaster had 30 minutes to explore their particular perspective on the future.
This time, we wanted to address a shift we are seeing across the trend landscape. In uncertain and sometimes frightening times, people seem less interested in simply finding the coolest new thing. Instead, we are looking for connection, meaning, belonging and things that bring us together.
Our theme became Common Grounds.
The strength of The Forecast Club is that we all approach the future from different angles, markets and disciplines. Put together, the presentations create a surprisingly broad picture of where design, lifestyle, culture and consumer behaviour may be heading.
Eight perspectives on the future
Stefan Nilsson, Sweden — Feelconomy
I look at the growing importance of emotions and how we are moving towards a market where feelings, experiences and human connection become increasingly valuable.
Cécile Poignant, France — Radical Pauses
Cécile explores the need for pauses and connection with a fascinating focus on contemporary rituals and how we use cities together.
Elisabetta Rizzato, Italy — Chasing the Sun
Elisabetta looks at our emotional relationship with light, the sun and the idea of chasing something that makes us feel better — in architecture as well as lifestyle.
Jan Agelink, The Netherlands — Design Friction
What happens when we deliberately create friction in a world designed for convenience? Jan looks at presence, independent thinking and our increasingly complicated relationship with technology.
Judith van Vliet, Spain — Rituals of Resilience
A political and geopolitical perspective on how uncertainty shapes design and culture. And yes, there is bread. Will we see more of it in design?
Susanna Björklund, Finland — Trust
Susanna explores where trust is emerging and how it can become a source of inspiration for design, brands and society.
Alina Schartner, Austria — Inclusive Colour
Our CMF expert looks at colour and inclusive design, asking how we can create environments and products that genuinely include more people and a greater diversity of experiences.
Xiaojing Huang, China — China’s Green Technology Rollout
Xiaojing looks at China’s enormous investment in green technology — and what this development could mean for the rest of the world.
All eight presentations will be available through The Forecast Club.
Looking for a different kind of optimism
This is the second time we have brought together this international group for a worldwide digital seminar, and one of the most interesting parts is seeing who joins us.
The audience stretches from Australia to Canada and the US, with a large European audience in between. Most viewers work within design, lifestyle, retail or related industries and are looking for more than inspiration. They want tools to understand where the market is moving — and what might come next.
And perhaps that is the real common ground.
Despite the very different subjects, there is a clear thread running through the seminar: a new kind of optimism.
We are moving beyond the endless search for the next object, colour or aesthetic. We are looking for meaning. For connection. For rituals, trust, emotions and shared experiences.
The future may not be about having more.
It may be about building better connections with what we already have — and with each other.
That is what we will be exploring in The Forecast Club’s 2027–2028 seminar.
If you work with design, lifestyle, retail, culture or consumer behaviour — and want to understand not just what is trending, but why — this is a seminar worth making time for.
Come and explore the common ground with us. Here is a sneak preview.
But of course I want to share some of the “behind the scene” pictures.
