AUTHENTICITY

Trend to Consider-
Authenticity is our quest for real in a sea of confusion. It is quite simply being real and presenting real textures, materials and ideas. Examples are everywhere. Consider the popularity of “Reality TV”. Dramatic craft and art are sacrificed for the feeling of watching a real experience.
We are searching for connections anywhere with unique but believable stories, and expect products and services to deliver. We have all grown visually weary by the onslaught of images. It pains me to admit (because I am very illustrative as a designer) that it is increasingly hard to impress anyone with a static image. Photoshop image doctoring has made it difficult to truly believe any photograph. We need to touch people with solids and spaces in a way that only a designed environment can. You can sense authentic places and people in a way you can trust. Have you ever felt that you were in the wrong neighborhood, bar, place? What about the feeling in good place, can a picture do it justice?
As our trust in enterprises erodes and human emotions are battered by dissolution, we look to connect with anything and everything to create complete experience in the absence of human relationships. One of the strongest reasons to attend a tradeshow is to get back the connectedness that we loose by working much of our lives in front of a computer. Exhibits are becoming more a place to create that connection experience rather than just trying to attract people visually. Maybe we are witnessing the change from Trade Shows to Trade Events .

My favorite example is an exhibit from EuroShop 2005. In this refrigeration company booth the wall beside the ‘café' section of the booth is made entirely of real ice blocks. Yes, they were melting all the time. It is striking because it touched all your senses and it was the most visceral way to explain just what this company is about. It needed no logos cut in it or colors added or artificial anything. Logistically a challenge but the message was clear and the buzz was fantastic.

Hilary Howes, in the Sept. 2005 EDPA newsletter