COVID-19 Trends
A booklet listing 141 ways that the world has shifted in response to the pandemic. This report was created early in the pandemic (April 2020) and as such, highlights the most significant changes that happened early on.
We’ve all seen the myriad of COVID-19 scenario reports circulating the web. What Avenear wanted to do, is offer up a collection of signals of change as a thought catalyst for your exploration of the future.
In this booklet we present to you 141 ways that the world has shifted in response to this pandemic. Some are trends that have picked up in interest, others are repercussions from mitigation measures. All of them should serve as potent launchpads for creative and critical thought. In closing, we present 10 new large-scale shifts that will impact the future. We hope you will find value in the broad overview of shifts our world has undergone.
Creative Direction
Trends Research
A Few Trends
Virtual (Night)clubs
COVID-19 has accelerated the use of videoconferencing technologies as digital nightclubs. By setting the stream as private, individuals can be ‘admitted to the club’ and enjoy the guest DJ performances, each streaming themselves dancing at home. In addition, unruly users can be ‘kicked out’ of the club for not following club rules.
Co-Watching
Utilizing services to collectively watch and consume content together, thereby rendering the consumption of media a little more social and interactive.
Surveillance Colleagues
Some remote workers are opting to share live videos of themselves working in an effort to boost their focus and productivity. Some services exist to virtually connect teammates with a dashboard featuring an all-day livestream of each team member, others look to connect total strangers in a matchmaking working session.
eSports & at Home Workouts
Videogames and virtually gamified sports (like smart cycling) are gaining in popularity as many turn to digital means to stay connected with others, stay motivated, and stay competitive.
Malware & Opportunism
Unfortunately, the pandemic is also encouraging bad actors to strike with added fervour. As many struggles to obtain the necessities, some are leveraging the demand for select products to generate a profit. Others are embedding malware in an effort to further advance chaos and destruction.
Digital Care
The trend in digital care is about leveraging digital technologies to stay connected and take care of each other. It includes taking the time to check-in on one another and to order each other care packages (or groceries, food deliveries).
Virtual Entertainers
As the entertainment industry is placed on pause, virtual entertainers and digital performers remain unaffected. With various industries such as journalism relying on teams of people to come together to produce shows, the use of virtual individuals for broadcasts is accelerating.
Surveillance Technologies
Researchers, health officials, and governments are increasing their use of surveillance technologies for a number of reasons. Reasons include to keep tabs on the location and movements of those that are confirmed to be infected, to monitor urban spaces remotely and enforce curfews, as well as to better understand where the virus may be especially active in a community.
Therapy & Physio Apps
Due to restricted home visits and the closure of non-essential services, many who relied on visits to/by the chiropractor, physiotherapist and other therapists services are now left with little choice but to try out at-home therapy apps, including at-home physiotherapy coaching apps.
Automation
The pandemic has exposed our fragile supply chains and highlighted weaknesses in our production capacities. The demand for automation within the manufacturing process would ensure that our supplies could continue to be produced without human intervention. This extends to the full automation of manufacturing, transportation, and distribution.
Home Gardens
Due in part to the rising cost of groceries and the desire to isolate as much as possible, individuals are looking to increase the amount of food they can grow at home. For others, gardening is providing the only access to nature they have from their balconies.
WFH, Remote Work
Probably the most talked about repercussion of the coronavirus has been the acceleration of remote work. Individuals across the world are being forced to work from home on a full-time basis, signaling a massive shift in how we do work.
Escape Communities
Those with means are looking to ride out the pandemic in style at “escape communities”. These are secluded cabins where guests are prescreened for the virus, then allowed to live together as an isolated community.These locales are catered to and maintained as a type of pandemic getaway hotel or vacation.
Single Use Comeback
With a fear of accidentally catching coronavirus through the cross-contamination of surfaces and products, the adoption of single-use items has once again become a prefered alternative to reusable containers.
Digital Environments
Perhaps one of the most important shifts that COVID-19 has brought about is our use of digital tools as makeshift spaces. With added development, the design of digital environments in which we can work, play, and socialize is nearing the horizon.
Fear of Strangers & Sharing Economy
A subconscious fear of strangers is being accentuated by the pandemic. As individuals feel that the public is a direct threat to their health, they’re modifying their behaviours to avoid meeting anyone new. The sharing economy is experiencing a slowdown as more individuals refrain from sharing items with others for fear of cross-contamination.
Mending, Repairing
With not very many shops open, consumers who have had something break have little choice but to attempt to fix it themselves. In the spirit of sustainability, others are looking to mend their items to refrain from creating unnecessary waste.
Internet as a Human Right
Those without the internet are severely crippled by the stay-at-home rules. The pandemic accelerates the point of view that access to the internet should be considered a human right.
Digital Museums & Art Galleries
Cultural institutions are reimagining how they can offer their experiences through digital means.
Digital Travel & Virtual Tourism
Without being able to physically go anywhere, individuals wishing to travel have to do so by digital means.
New Greetings
New contactless ways of saying hello and goodbye are being adopted by cultures around the world.
New Directions
Epidemiological considerations
This pandemic has provided us an altered perspective on others, one where we see others as potential health threats. It is expected that we will continue to associate large crowds with a greater risk of falling sick, that we will remain more cautious of contaminants within the environment and that we will apply these perspectives to the (re)design of our spaces and services. We acknowledge that given our heavily populated and networked world it is likely that another pandemic will occur...
In search of self-reliance
Having experienced disrupted supply chains, there is likely to be momentum carried forward into the development of more resilient and possibly local supply chain networks. Similarly, individuals have had to learn to become more resourceful and self-reliant in the face of the crisis, something that we will surely carry forward.
Acceleration of automation and autonomous technologies
There will be a push for greater automation within our communities so that services may be able to continue operations without human intervention. In addition, autonomous technologies will gain in importance in the face of the increased pressures on logistics companies and delivery partners. We will develop a world where products will be able to continue being produced and distributed with nearly no human involvement.
Design of digital spaces
As we look to live our lives through virtual mediums, the design of digital spaces for recreation, for work, and for entertainment is a craft that will gain momentum from this pandemic. When paired with the projected uptake in extended reality technologies, the way we live our lives may very well start to resemble an immersive video game.
The slowing down of life
Our collective lived experience of sheltering-in-place for months at a time has provided us with a newfound appreciation of a slower, gentler pace of life. One where we’re no longer required to lose hours commuting or preparing for social events. We’ve gained a new appreciation for hobbies, self-fulfillment, meditation, and gratitude.
Social, caring robots
It is possible that the healthcare industry will begin to seriously investigate the development of nursing robots to help take care of the sick. Autonomous robots may reduce the burden and risk placed on a number of workers such as nurses, home care, and social workers during such a pandemic.
Sacrifices for the greater good
The notion of small personal sacrifice for the greater good has partly been extended to the notion of sharing more aggregated, anonymized data in hopes of being able to more quickly detect the onset of another deadly disease. Added surveillance measures are deemed a necessary evil in such times. It remains to be seen how acclimatized we will become to this deterioration of privacy.
Critical consumerism and the support of local
The pandemic has taught us to become more frugal in our spending habits. Many are equating this to a positive deceleration, a time for us to readjust our consumption patterns, to reassess what had become our norm. In the face of continued economic uncertainty, we are likely to continue making more considered purchases post-coronavirus likely resulting in reduced consumption. When we do consume, we will find added value in supporting small, local businesses in an effort to reboot their services.
Accelerated adoption of digital participation
We’ve gained a greater appreciation for the ways technology can help us stay connected and participate in remote events - from virtual sports to virtual meetings, digital presenteeism such as livestreaming is going to become an increasingly accepted norm, even as we transition back to “physical” life.
What we did
Trends research.
We created a compilation of 141 ways that the world has shifted in response to the early-stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also highlighted 10 new large-scale shifts that will impact the future. These present new directions for society, a way to reinvent ourselves in the face of hardship.
Critical insights.
We made sure to include some food for thought through out the report. 46 thought catalysts or design-framed questions poised for further investigation.
Art direction.
We packaged all of our findings into an edgy report meant to spark curiosity.
Custom Trends Report
Looking for your own indstry-themed trends report? Maybe something to kick start your team’s imagination or gain new perspectives on well-known problems? Get in touch, we can surely put something for you together.