October 10, 2025
It’s safe to say my Instagram algorithm leans (at least) 70% interior design and styling. I scroll, I save, I build little folders like a magpie collecting shiny objects. One month it’s Scandi-inspired simplicity, the next it’s colour-drenched maximalism. Is my style evolving that fast, or am I just following the pack, nudged along by a very clued-in algorithm?
As much as I’d like to think my tastes are as curated as a Vogue Living spread, what I save is less a personal moodboard and more a time capsule; a mirror for what’s trending.
I was forced to reckon with my highly impressionable tastes thanks to a straight-shooting designer and trend forecaster who popped up on my feed. The crux of the content: these “trends” you stumble across aren’t random. They swing like a pendulum. From brown to burgundy; minimalism to maximalism; clean lines to organic curves.
There’s a science behind it all, long before the algorithm takes hold. Psychological, economic and behavioural forces, among others, all feed into the machine. These cultural currents shape more than our Pinterest boards. They influence everything from our wardrobes to our wellness routines, from brand packaging to product pipelines.
The puppeteers pulling the strings have more reasons than one to shape what we like and why.
Trend forecasting is more than a stab in the dark; it’s a critical business tool. It predicts cultural shifts that ripple through categories, modelling how people might buy, live and behave next season. Spotting those shifts helps businesses make smarter (and somewhat) future-proof decisions: which fabrics to stock, which paint colours to launch, or what products to push into production.
Zooming out from my highly skewed algorithm, this pattern extends far beyond décor. Entire businesses are born off the back of what’s trending, shaping themselves to serve an audience waiting for the next “new.” From wearable sleep trackers to adaptogenic lattes, products, brands, and even industries rise from cultural waves that swell into billion-dollar movements.
As the pendulum swings, the algorithm amplifies, and we’re all caught in one big, predictable loop. It’s easy to see how that cycle slides us into a blur of uniformity. But the pendulum, by nature, motions back and forth. Where does it leave us “suckers” who’ve dropped an extortionate amount on the latest must-have mushroom powder? And where does it leave the brands that’ve built their identity around a moment that’s already moved on?
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Is it even possible to define personal preference anymore, or are we just living in a cycle of orchestrated aesthetics? Sure, the thrill of discovering something “new” is great, but so is the mind-numbing comfort of a familiar scroll at 9 PM.
For brands, the risk is sharp. The danger isn’t missing the moment, it’s blending into the background. While pack mentality might reward in the short term, it’s hardly a recipe for longevity.
The brands that stand the test of time don’t just reflect culture, they shape it. Nike has done this for decades, turning performance into a movement of personal empowerment. Liquid Death has built an entire brand parodying the wellness wave. Patagonia has rewritten what it means to be a purpose-led business, putting environmental activism at its core long before sustainability became a trend.
There’s some irony to it: these cultural category leaders spark an army of imitators. To be truly “on the pulse of culture” means never resting on laurels. It demands continually reading, evaluating, and disrupting the conventions that once defined success or a moment in time.
There’s comfort in being told what to do and how to think. And at the end of the day, when my brain’s hunting for something familiar, I’m not about to psychoanalyse my saved posts. I’m still the same sucker for sameness, happy to be guided on what colour to paint my bedroom walls.
But for brands, that sameness can be a trap. We’ve never had more information at our fingertips to predict and analyse culture. The opportunity isn’t in playing it safe with that data - it’s in how we interpret and act on it differently. Used well, these tools become a springboard for the disruptors: the ones willing to bend the pendulum, not just its cultural coattails.
Because, as history tells us, culture isn’t shaped by playing it safe.
