TREND REPORT: FRESH PERSPECTIVE

“Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.”

Jonathan Swift

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then how many words is a video worth?

Visual media is enjoying a second Renaissance, thanks to the rise of graphic technology.

With the endless availability of gorgeous photography, marketers will be apt to leverage more

sophisticated visualization techniques such as interactive designs, videos, and popular visual social

media platforms.

VISUAL MUSICDespite being an audible medium, music has a naturally

significant visual effect as songs evoke memories, feelings and visual ideas. Now, the data visualization process is turning

music into a visible art form.

MUSICDNAMusicDNA is a Kickstarter-funded service that literally hangs melodies on the wall with bespoke posters and canvases derived from songs. Users submit the

title and music video of their favorite tune and sound sampling software illustrates its unique waveform with compressed images from the music video.

(DIS)PLAY THAT SONG

Barcelona-based creative designer Hendrik Hohenstein developed an open source online application that converts song lyrics into a pattern of

graphic elements and color. The project not only allows people to see what

their favorite songs look like, but also provides a medium through which to

discover new music.

INTERACTIVE SHOPPING

Images are a core component driving consumers’ shopping behaviors. Tapping into the influence of art on purchase decision, the fashion and retail industry combine various

forms of visualizations—videos, and interactive designs—to drive web traffic to purchases.

WIREWAXThe interactive video platform WIREWAX has partnered with The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) to make shopping through video easy for consumers and customizable for brands. This kind of shopping technology has doubled engagement time, caused 67% of viewers

to interact with videos at least once and improved click-through rates by 14%.

STYLEPIT LOOKBOOK

Online contemporary fashion retailer STYLEPIT created a unique and

interactive snapshot showcasing its range of products. Users can pan the ultra-long lookbook in slow motion,

click on any of the clothing pieces and purchase or share them on social

media. The site UI was designed to be as minimalistic and intuitive as possible so users can easily navigate through

items for sale.

LIKETOKNOW.IT

LiketoKnow.It is a website where fashion bloggers and Instagramers can share where they bought the products that are featured in their Instagram feed. Vogue became the

first brand account in LiketoKnow.It, which could fuel

more fashion brands to embrace the emerging platform.

THE RISE OF INSTAGRAM

With huge popularity among teens and tweens, Instagram has become a powerhouse that marketers can no longer ignore.

Instead of simply focusing on brand presence, savvy marketers study user behavior and utilize Instagram’s functionalities to

entice the audience to engage with brand messages.

JETPACJetPac provides a consumer guide to local restaurants, bars, and coffee shops. Unlike competitors such as Yelp, it doesn’t rely on customers to contribute reviews. Instead,

the company uses software to process public Instagram photos tagged with the business’ name and measures things like the number of smiles in the picture or

amount of blue sky. !

Three years after it launched, JetPac has recently been acquired by Google.

IKEA’S INSTAGRAM WEBSITETo launch its PS 2014 collection, Ikea created a new website built entirely through Instagram. Each of the 34 items in the PS 2014 line has its own

Instagram account so shoppers can take a closer look at the products and get inspired when decorating their own spaces at home.

APPENDIX• MusicDNA: musicdna.me • (Dis)Play That Song: www.displaythatsong.com/

!• WIREWAX: https://www.wirewax.com/ • LiketoKnow.It: liketoknow.it

!• JetPac: https://www.jetpac.com/ • Ikea’s PS 2014 Instagram: instagram.com/ikea_ps_2014

CONTACT ELLEN

• LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ellensnoh • Twitter : http://twitter.com/ellen_noh