You are welcome to share your thoughts on this article written by Greg Taylor, Director of Brand Provocation at Elmwood, London

Just as Glastonbury and London’s mini heat wave ends, a sun-kissed future beckons for some. These lucky ones will seek advice from the sages of TripAdvisor, slip on their favourite Havaianas, spend sleepy afternoons by the pool, and have furrowed brows eased by the songs of amorous cicadas.

You are welcome to share your thoughts on this article written by Greg Taylor, Director of Brand Provocation at Elmwood, London

These are dark, dark times. It seems right now that not a week goes by without some form of man-made or natural disaster hitting the headlines . . . from New Zealand to Japan to Libya: earthquakes, tsunamis, nuclear fallout and revolution. From London to Paris to Tokyo to Athens: crippling deficits, rising unemployment, increasing taxes and growing inflation.

You are welcome to share your thoughts on this article written by Greg Taylor, Founding Partner and Director of Brand Provocation at Elmwood

The incredible events of recent weeks have seen protesters in Tunisia and Egypt bring about the downfall of their autocratic leaderships. Their success has triggered similar social unrest in neighbouring countries such as Bahrain, Yemen and now Libya. The repressive and inefficient nature of these selfsame rulers caused widespread poverty that went unchecked for decades.

Are we on the cusp of a new design aesthetic driven by the need to get fit yet get noticed in the current hyper combative post-recession climate? If so, this climate may be turning architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s mantra ‘less is more’ ever so slightly on its head as the budgets of governments, business and people demand ‘more for less’. But what form might this new aesthetic take over the coming years?

Listening to Radio 5 Live’s breakfast show the other week I heard for the first time the sober thoughts of Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England. Apparently the next decade will not be ‘nice’ (non-inflationary consistent expansion) and that after years of binging it’s now time for us all to sober up (savings, orderly budgets, and equitable rebalancing). It was of course refreshing to hear something other than the Wayne Rooney, ‘is he, isn’t he’ staying at Man U soap opera Mervyn doesn’t exactly inspire you to throw the duvet off and rush into work!