#anna pegg

[katiecharleston-blog]

18/1/16 Lectures

Anna Pegg

Futurologist Anna Pegg came to talk to us about her profession today - it is her job to identify and predict current and future trends through extensive research and immersing herself in popular culture. Information is her currency, as it is essential to companies that they understand what their customers are going to want and need, even before the customers themselves know it. This was very interesting as I hadn’t realised this was a job, and it reminded me of the broad range of options which will hopefully be available to me once I graduate. I spoke to Anna after the lecture to ask her about the handmade as a trend, and I intend to quote her in my essay which will ground my argument in current contextual relevance - she talked about handmade being the new luxury which perfection through imperfection, and that the value is not in the price, but the process and journey of making. 

Dave Waters Watermill London

We also had a lecture today from Dave Waters, who spoke mostly of the advertising industry and adverts which inspire him, rather than his own work. He said that the two most important aspects of an advert are impact and relevance, but relevance is negotiable if you have enough impact, and he stressed the importance of music in an advert. He also talked about idea generation as an essential tool in being a graphic designer in advertising, as ideas are everything, and he advised us to remember than we can say no to rubbish suggestions - you’re the one who knows what they’re doing. 

[paulinekorp]

Today we had guest lecturers talking about branding and trend. While Anna Pegg was talking to us about futurism and trends, I started thinking about individualism and the effort of being original in the 21. century. 100 years ago we knew fewer people because of the internet, we only knew the people around us and the ones in magazines, but nowadays we could see millions of different people and styles online in one day.  It is popular and mainstream to try to be different, but anytime someone does something differently, other catch up on it and destroy the unique aspect of it taking the difference over. 

For example hipsters, they wanted to be different, they always want to be first in everything - would it be then wayfairer glasses or listening to a new urban-indie band. Especially they hate when someone calls them hipsters, because then it means they belong into a clang, that they are not different anymore. But what has happened now? The hipsters have become mainstream! The idea of being different and not mainstream IS mainstream now, which is very ironical and confusing for me. 

[jessfitzwarren]

This Monday (11/11/13) we had special visiting lecturers Anna Pegg and Anya Pearson. Both are branding and trend experts from the field of fashion, with a wealth of commercial experience ( Forecasting agencies and leading high brands).  

Our first presentation was done by Anna Pegg where she explained about Futurology and trends. The key transferable skills she wanted us to absorb was: 

Define Trends

Explain the role of an Futurologist 

Explore and learn new skills

Define the Zeitgeist

I enjoyed absorbing the skills on what futurologists do, it is interesting to know that they always look to the future for ideas. Something I learnt is called Quantitative Unambiguous Indicators - they are available for the present and they can be projected for at least 5 years into the future. Anna's roles are to mainly look at Politics, cultural, economics, consumers and environmental subjects. 

Anya Pearson gave her factual presentation on branding. She wanted us to understand  why branding is such an important tool, identifying the factors that contribute to a great brand identity and how you can play with the future of branding. 

What I found interesting was how many knickers Marks and Spencers had sold in the year. 61 million knickers in fact! The sole reason behind this was how M&S brand themselves, for example, they have good advertisement, sell food, a stable history of their branding and is made from good quality (as advertised). 

In today's society companies compete for the loyalty of the same consumer, they look at the physical and intangible attributes and how it differentiates itself.  

Today I have learnt how branding can be very important and how it is represented gives a powerful impact, a lot of work goes into making a company successful. Futurology was helpful in the fact of how it can inspire me to research in a statistic route, creating something innovative and exciting.