Topics to Watch in the United States for September 2016
Discover “the next big thing” to inspire product and creative development.
CONTENTS
This month is about finding momentum in themes from months past and diving back into sub-cultures. Remember dosas? South Indian cuisine is now popping, too. How about Sachiko stitching? Now we see longarm quilting. Even gloss from July and cosmetic primer from June are resurfacing through a fascinating practice, permanent make-up.
As we look for the next big thing for creative and product development, we’re excited to see how topics covered before are evolving today.
Digital illustration
Essentially “drawing from scratch” through digital devices, digital illustration is no longer in the realm of professionals only, as everyday phones and tablets embed capabilities amateurs can access. This, along with thriving awe over gaming, comic and film design, sees digital illustration emerging as an art form in its own right. So it’s not surprising to see it linked to acrylic painting, pencil sketching and even fine arts. But as aficionados and designers alike will tell you, it’s not enough to have tools. Like all art, good work stems from talent and training.
Associated Topics: Acrylic painting, "Brooklyn, New York", Comic books, Fine arts, Game art design, "Houston, Texas", Pencil sketching, Pictures Scratchboard, Texting
Conversation Volume
Who's Driving the Conversation
Longarm quilting
Longarm quilting uses longarm sewing machines (big sewing machines that can accommodate much larger materials) to stitch together larger-scale quilts. Much faster and easier to use than domestic sewing machines, longarm quilting is gaining traction among hobbyist quilters and those running small businesses from their homes. But these machines are expensive! So many quilters rely on local shops to help finalize projects. We’re seeing local shops going online to highlight the talents of their customers and invite people in for training and machine usage.
Associated Topics: Machine quilting, Padding, Pantograph, Quilt, Quilt art, Quilting, Running stitch, Tack Thimble Thread (yarn)
Conversation Volume
Who's Driving the Conversation
Permanent makeup
Like it sounds, permanent make-up is the use of tattoos to resemble make-up, such as eyeliner or lip pigmentation. New techniques—like micro-blading, shadowing and 3D styles—have been leading to more natural styles and increased popularity. Today the practice is just as much about using the body as a canvas as it is about restoring confidence to those trying to disguise scars or hiding the effects of aging or illness, like alopecia totalis.
Associated Topics: Facials, Hair stylist, Hair tattoo, "Las Vegas, Nevada", Makeup, Manicures, Massages, "Miami, Florida", Piercings Tattoos
Conversation Volume
Who's Driving the Conversation
South Indian cuisine
Following August’s dosas call-out, we’re seeing South Indian cuisine rising as a whole (dosas are a South Indian staple). Further showcasing the US’s love affair with Indian culture, interest in South Indian cuisine extends to vegetables, reflecting the usually vegetarian South Indian diet. Spiciness is not only a hallmark of the cuisine, but it also links back to last month’s pepper-based adobada, highlighting interest in hot foods. While restaurant dining pops as an associated term, so does home cooking, like we’ve seen in topics published in past months.
Associated Topics: Chinese food, Crepes, Goats, Indian food, Pancakes, Recipes, Restaurant, Snacks, Spicy food, Vegetables
Conversation Volume
Who's Driving the Conversation
Synthwave
Topics to Watch has been no stranger to nostalgia. And ’80s nostalgia has reached fever pitch, particularly in fashion, film and TV. Enter synthwave: a music style from the mid-oughts that is inspired by 1980s scifi, action and horror media. Mainly instrumental, it includes ’80s clichés like electronic drums and analog synthesizers combined with modern production techniques. As those who grew up in the ’80s take charge of creating content, we’re seeing mass celebration of simpler, more innocent, less-tech-filled times of many people’s lives—across genres and media.
Associated Topics: Britpop, Electro music, Music production, Music videos, Pop (music genre), Power noise, Seapunk, Synthesizers, Vaporwave, Video games
Conversation Volume
Who's Driving the Conversation
Urban horticulture
Cities are flooding with people during this decade’s urban renaissance. And with them, interest in urban horticulture. It is the study of plants and urban areas interacting, and today’s focus is on how horticulture improves the urban environment. One example is community gardens. Benefits are seen to be wide-ranging: from improving neighborhoods, to growing food to eat and teaching children healthy eating habits. As people move into cities and lose their lawns, urban horticulture is taking a center stage in culture and people’s mental and physical health.
Associated Topics: Flowers, Green wall, Organic gardening, Plants, Raised-bed gardening, Vegetables, Seattle Washington, Sustainable gardening, Urban gardening, Washington Park Arboretum
Conversation Volume
Who's Driving the Conversation
Source: Based on Facebook internal data, US only, September 2015-2016.
About Topics to Watch
Topics to Watch are conversation topics that have shown early growth patterns similar to previous topics with long-term growth (such as kale). Because the conversations around Topics to Watch mirror the volume, variance and measures of past conversations that have shown long-term growth, we predict Topics to Watch will continue to grow in the future.
Based on early testing, we found that 8 of the 10 topics we identified in the past grew as predicted.