ISSUE 02 3 CONTENTS MOOD BOARD..........................04 GEN Z’S PUNK INFLUENCE......14 WATCH: EUPHORIA................24 TRENDING TYPOGRAPHY.......06 TREND FORECAST.....................12 HOT OR NOT?..........................20 GUEST INTERVIEW..................30 WOULD YOU LIKE TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE NEXT ISSUE? EMAIL: KATE.ARMES@THATLOT.CO.UK KATE ARMES JORDAN BAINES CONTRIBUTORS AMY MOORE ROSIE SHEPPARD EDITOR/DIRECTOR COVER DESIGN AUTHOR/ STICKER DESIGNER AUTHOR/ RESEACHER AUTHOR/ RESEACHER 5 4 MOOD BOARD 7 6 TRENDING TYPOGRAPHY 6 hot type trends you’re about to see everywhere ― amy moore ROUNDED FONTS These extremely rounded, bubble style fonts feel animated and when paired with bright colours give their designs a dynamic energy. Aside from being inherently joyful, these font styles also have a touch of the unashamedly weird in their more blobby, irregular forms, making them perfect in appealing to Gen Z audiences. BLACKLETTER Gothic fonts, also called Blackletter, are ornately designed. This typographic style is reminiscent of Middle-Age manuscripts that today give a historic and grungy feel that Gen Z love and, oddly, isn’t too dated when paired with modern digital styles like chrome - what is old can always be made new again! This font style initially rose into popularity with Kanye West’s Saint Pablo merch featuring Blackletter typography heavily back in 2016 and has since stuck around and continued to evolve. DESIGN 9 8 RETRO CURVES Now we know how GenZ loves some retro influence, this typography trend derives from the thick, curving letters of the 70s. Evoking images of vintage vinyls and the movement from the flowing curves of the letterforms, what could be a better way to bring your design to life? These font styles give designs a joyous and youthful look and often radiate positivity just from their look and feel. FLUID DISPLAY Fluid display fonts are beautifully curved to create a liquid effect as if your typeface has been dipped in water. The curves can be subtle to add a simple wave to the text or more extravagant to add a unique look. When paired with a chrome effect this style gives the look of molten metal dripped to form stunning letterforms. DESIGN 11 10 MIXED WIDTH Mixed-width typography has a simple, graphic appeal that makes it a bold and disruptive choice for a range of designs. By opting for a chunky sans serif style it maximises the font’s legibility, and paired with high-contrast colour palettes makes messaging clear while keeping it impactful. Mixed-width fonts are naturally playful, so appeal to a Gen Z audience whilst keeping a bold minimalist feel, with it giving a much simpler look than many of the trends we have looked at. EXPERIMENTAL TYPE Traditional typography is all about order, one letter follows another in a predictable sequence, and guidelines dictate how each letter should be sized. But as we know Gen Z love to disrupt order wherever possible and this can be seen with the more experimental typography styles used in many designs. The style of this trend can vary depending on what rules are broken and why—jumbled letters out of sequence, combining many fonts and weights, deliberate manipulation, and even total redefinition of letterforms themselves. DESIGN 13 12 INSIGHT TREND SOFT PSYCHEDELIA 2D + 3D COMBINED BEREAL APPRTR BIT MAP PIXELATION + BRUTALIST WEB DESIGN RTR INDIE SLEAZE FAST FASHION MICRO TRENDS MACRO INFLUENCERS RTR CORPORATE PLAYBOOKS FORECAST ― kate armes Appealing to Gen Z’s craving for authenticity BeReal is the antithesis to IG; No curation, no filters, no ads. 1 snap daily - front & back cam Try too hard and you kill the vibe ™ With the cost of living continuing to rise, the lifestyle gap between influencers and their audience continues to grow This has resulted in a number of out of touch influencers (the Molly Mae effect) As formulaic predictable branding fails to gain the attention of Gen Z we will see more and more brands ‘rip up’ their visual playbook, adopting more relaxed take on their look & feel. This ultimately allows for more creativity and authenticity to shine through and capture Gen Z with experience led content Gen Z are becoming concerned with over consumption due to increasingly fast trend cycles and its impact on the planet 15 14 GEN Z’S PUNK INFLUENCE ― kate armes With Indie sleaze fashion on the rise, Pop-Punk back in the charts, and DIY aesthetics dominating art and design, punk is undoubtedly in the zeitgeist - or at least amongst Gen Z. But how did we get here? Punk, a very British postmodern movement originating in the 70s is somehow cutting edge again globally 50 years after its inception. To answer this, let’s have a look back at where it all started to answer why punk now is re-emerging? - and ultimately what does this tell us about Gen Z? Punk began as a reactionary postmodern movement against Modernism. Modernism* followed the utopian belief that order and universal truths would progress humanity. The Modernist style emerged as the west began to move towards mass production. Sleek, simple designs allowed for optimum reproducibility. Think Apple products today. DESIGN *Modernism’s ideals gave way to urbanisation, capitalism, and individualism. These values remain ingrained into western society today, although without the utopian ideals that were supposed to live alongside them. INSIGHT 17 16 So that’s modernism covered; back to Punk. Rejecting Modernism’s rigidity and uniformity, those amongst the Punk subculture in the late 70s embraced rebellion † , and the fashion they adopted reflected their anti-establishment ideals. Westwood and Maclaren, The Sex Pistols, and The Clash, amongst others, influenced the Punk style. Spikey hair, Safety pins, eyeliner, fetishwear, and genderqueer fashion. Provocative political symbols, this DIY and protest aesthetic reflected the darkening mood and undercurrent of the subculture. Punk was intentionally disruptive and signaled for change, pushing boundaries with attitude. The youth of the time were unhappy with the norms and values of the society that had been passed down to them... Starting to sound a little familiar - right? †Similarly, a decade prior, a postmodern counterculture of its own was emerging in Jamaica - The self-assured ‘Rude Boy’. They embodied the country’s independence. Adorning Trilby hats, brogues, suits, and shades listening to Ska and Reggae. The ‘Windrush Generation’ took this new subculture over to the UK where it met with Mods and in turn, progressed and fractured. By the 70s Punk and Ska had intertwined into the 2-Tone Movement. Immortalised by Graphic Designer Jon Sims reviving the Checkerboard. 19 18 Parallels can be drawn from Punk to the current aesthetic adopted by Gen Z, subversive basics, Vivienne Westwood necklaces, lock chains, alternative hair, graphic liner; the e-boy/girl look, popularised through Tik Tok, from a few years back had a strong Punk leaning. More recently, there has been a nostalgic nod to Indie Sleaze and Tumblr appearing across the mood boards in Gen Z fashion inspo. Looks aside, we can also see a reemergence of Lo-fi and DIY aesthetics in design style. An easy example of this is the newspaper lettering popular on TikTok which is a pastiche of the 70s Punk style Ransom note - modernised as looping gifs. But it is not just aesthetically that Punk has re-entered the zeitgeist; New wave Pop Punk, which evolved from 90s punk (Green Day, Blink 182, etc.) also continues to rise in popularity. Bringing with it Lo-fi grainy 90s MTV/ VHS visuals that are now used stylistically today, evoking nostalgia and escapism from the increasingly 4k digital world of the 2020s. Interestingly this could be due to the oldest of Gen Z remembering glimmers of Pop Punk from their childhood, and now in their own adolescence, seek to recreate the effortlessly cool and alternative vibe for themselves in their own art. Today this can be seen in artists like Lava La Rue, Willow Smith, YungBlud, Olivia Rodrigo who directly revisit Punk and bring their audiences along with them. This could be attributed to Pop-Punk reflecting the typical Gen Z critical/cynical voice, and providing a new generation an outlet for their angst and despair for the modern world. Ultimately, as it stands, raw and undone triumphv over the perfected and polished when appealing to Gen Z. And as trend cycles speed up, parallels can be drawn from millennials adopting the Modernist style in both content and consumption and predictably the following generation rejecting this. Gen Z is disruptive and seeks to bring about meaningful change, and their role models, two British examples that spring to mind ‘CIS-Tem offender’ Bimini Bon Boulash and Stormzy undoubtedly carry the anti-establishment Punk sensibility. Long Live Punk! 21 20 “ Stay true to your brand you can always adapt your marketing to meet modern demand.” HOT: CROCS I distinctly remember when my dad bought his first pair of Crocs, and me thinking he was the ultimate trend setter, I copped myself a few pairs to match his vibe. The unfortunate thing about this though was Crocs were never to be worn out in public, you’d probably get something thrown at you. Nowadays, the opinion and status of Crocs has done a complete 180 and even though I haven’t owned a pair since I was 8, lets see how the brand is now positioning themselves. Gen Z are always looking for some kind of hype and newness in an increasingly oversaturated market. You may have seen over the past couple of years, Crocs have become extremely popular with Gen Z. They have managed to partner with celebrities and streetwear brands to create a sense of hype culture. These partnerships include exclusive collabs with Post Malone, Bad Bunny, Balenciaga, Justin Bieber and Palace skateboards just to name a few. INSIGHT HOT OR NOT? BRAND ANALYSIS ― rosie sheppard 23 22 NOT: JACK WILLS Jack Wills has always been known as a high- end, country wear clothing brand which for years has appealed to the millennial age bracket. They have since tried to market themselves to the Gen Z through an influencer campaign as well as a rebrand of their tone of voice. Jack Wills was first founded in Devon in 1999, and it quickly became a successful brand in the early 2000s to create a “university lifestyle image.” They were famous for their logo-heavy gilets, hoodies, underwear and merchandise, and were once sponsors of the Eton vs Harrow Polo match. Around Christmas time 2021, they displayed a billboard advertisement around London Underground, showing a poster of a group of people wearing their new garments, accompanied with the words “It’s a vibe”. After seeing this, people took to social media calling the brand “boring” and “embarrassing” for trying to be “cool and urban”. This is a clear example of when a brand tries too hard to appeal to a younger demographic. What brands seem to try and do is throw buzzwords around that they deem as “slang” rather than taking the time to fully research what appeals to Gen-Z. As you can probably see, not all brands “180” very well, unlike Crocs, Jack Wills seem to have tapped into a stereotype of Gen Z attitudes, rather than a sense of hype culture. It makes you wonder why they have tried so hard to change their distinct image. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The notion of leaving people wondering what’s coming next? is one of the key strategies in appealing to the Gen Z culture. So what is their strategy? Social media. Crocs have adopted a TikTok social media strategy - 1.7 billion views - most videos created by gen z for gen z. In October 2020, Croctober was created where Crocs teamed up with Afterpay to create a hashtag challenge called “StrapBack” promoting a pay later service on their e-commerce site (a bit like Klarna) - creating an original sound and getting well known people to take part which generated 7.3 billion views. These are just 2 stand out strategies which have elevated the brand to the Gen Z eye, check out their Instagram account to see how they stay on top of their game at all times! The final element of Croc’s ethos which could be the most important is that they are “unashamedly themselves”. They’ve never changed to fit in with a demographic, they have always been a timeless garden shoe classic, however, they have demonstrated how important to stay true to your brand, you can always adapt your marketing to meet modern demand. 25 24 “It is the shows ‘memeability’ that helps it be so prevalent in online conversations and continues to push Euphoria into the laps of new audiences.” EUPHORIA Although a few weeks have passed since the final episode of Season 2, Euphoria is still the hottest TV show that everyone’s talking about. For those of you who don’t know, Euphoria focuses on the lives of a group of high school students in America and the struggles they face with; love, drugs and social media, whilst trying to find their identity. Although on the surface it sounds like your average teen drama, Sam Levinson’s unique take on teenage life is a lot darker than what American audiences are used to seeing (think Skins rather than 90210). However, I would say Levinson despite the darkness, has managed to write a show that has a relatively realistic interpretation of the usual high school dramas. And so Euphoria resonates with so much of Gen Z. CULTURE READ WATCH LISTEN ― jordan baines EUPHORIA R- 27 26 As Season 2 has unfolded we not only fell in love with the cast but also the visuals. Partly due to Levinson and the cinematographer Marcell Rév managing to get Kodak to reopen parts of their factory to recreate their ‘Ektachrome’ film. They wanted Season 2 to have a more distinguished look than Season 1 (which was shot digitally) and so, using film allowed them to create and intimate and hazy feel. To me, shooting on film for the entire season really added to the nostalgic vibe, playing on the idea of memories and giving it a dream- like quality. While for Gen Z audiences this continued to feed their obsession with nostalgia, perhaps even using the show as a form of escapism. Their obsession with times gone by, specifically, the early 90s and 00s, is referenced throughout in the styling, sets and drug use. I have also seen this obsession with the naughties across socials, especially on IG with accounts like @2000sanxiety, which in a way glorifies y2k showcasing highlights from pop culture at the time. TikTok trends have emerged based around the styling in Euphoria - which even other TV talents have gotten involved in (Selling Sunsets - Mary). A lot of the girls in the show have a very y2k ‘it girl’ look; Cassie, Faye and Maddy especially. Season 2 was recently crowned the most talked about TV show on Twitter of the decade so far. Beating Netflix giants like Ozark and Squid Game. This comes as no surprise with it’s truly shocking storylines and famous cast. Gen Z has jumped on the meme bandwagon relentlessly from the pilot episode. Who knew Maddy banging on the bathroom door would become so iconic? Gen Z only care to meme about things that have managed to grab their attention - which is proving an increasingly impossible task as the attention economy is decreasing amongst young people...thanks TikTok. Gaining a dedicated following, who post as if the characters are their peers, and they too go to ‘Euphoria High’. After a Sunday episode release - Twitter would boom with bursts of reactionary Euphoria content; Memes, TikToks and Tweets. 29 28 Further on from the visuals of Season 2, I feel like Tumblr would have had a field day with some of the shots created by Marcell Rév and Levinson. One that stands out to me the most is a now-iconic scene of Cassie surrounded by flowers. You can just see this back in the Tumblr days being what was then, Effy from Skins. The juxtaposition of a broken girl crying surrounded by beautiful flowers screams Tumblr to me which is again something Gen-Z would have grown up using (RIP TUMBLR). To conclude, Euphoria’s success can be put down to the show’s aspirational yet grounded reflection of American school culture that has hooked the attention of Gen Z, its star- studded cast Gen Z fave Zendaya. Exceptional set design, cinematography, make-up artistry and styling result in some incredible TV eye-candy.Stills from the show are so visually pleasing that they can stand alone or be readapted by its audience into memes and creative inspiration, living on from TV to Timeline. 31 30 sup JB! got 5? let’s goooo ! hey INTERVIEW WITH JORDAN BAINES 33 32 what’s your relationship with social media/phone use? I am a biggg social media user (good job I work here @ TL), I am addicted. However, this year I have been trying to detox from it a little more. My screen time was getting ridiculous, we’re talking like 10+ hours some weeks (not good I know). But I do think it’s great, social media that is but I do see how it can be damaging, and isn’t always a nice place for everyone. However, I love Twitter - it’s a great place, it’s funny, quick and witty. Everyone’s just so on it - this is my fave tweet I’ve seen on recent events... what’s ur fave emojis rn? lool soo gen z of you - on that how would you some up gen z? It’s really just as simple as being genuine, don’t try too hard - they see straight through it what would be your advice to brands trying to engage with Gen Z? weird, funny & aware 35 34 I love this question, every year it seems to be the same doesn’t it. However, I do think gradients and 3D are becoming bigger than before. Maximalism is deffo going to be a breakthrough. I think ‘3D’ being so easy to make now using illustrator will deffo help upcoming/younger designers incorporate it into designs. what do you predict we will see more of this year? if you were a brand who would you be? ASOS Klarna ME ASOS’ presence on IG is great, they really smash IGS. They’re lowkey with the design elements and always on trend. I love actively voting for ‘this or that’. Klarna, their aesthetic is fun and playful, which is very me.. their style adds a ‘quirky x’ vibe to what otherwise be boring. 36