Editor's Letter – December 2023

I’m writing this in early December. Is it too premature to look back at 2023? There’s still three weeks to go. Everything to play for, right? If there’s one thing I learned from those pandemic times we were all forced to endure, it’s to try to live more mindfully in the moment. To enjoy the nowness of the now. To be honest, that’s all we really have.

Living more consciously in the here and now doesn’t mean, however, that we should give up on planning for a better world. As news reports and interviews from the COP28 climate-change conference in Dubai play out on our screens, I’m reminded of the mission that Architonic shares with its sister platforms Designboom and ArchDaily: to inspire, connect and empower. The macro challenges we’re facing are never going to be achieved without a commitment to collaboration and we’re proud at DAAily platforms – as the world’s largest online A&D community – to play a part in this by helping design professionals and communities to come together to try to improve quality of life. 

2023 saw the physical-design-fair calendar return to a large extent to its traditional rhythm, allowing the industry as a community to converge once again, sharing not only new products and ideas, but also that most vital of commodities: face-to-face, 100%-analogue, relationship-boosting time. Dick Spierenburg, imm cologne’s creative director, put it perfectly in a recent interview with Architonic: ‘It’s important to go to an event and feel it. I think you pick up knowledge and inspiration much better when you are enjoying the company of others, when you’re open and relaxed.’ 

Indeed, the fair’s next edition in January is showing out under the banner of ‘Connecting Communities’, which will see, for the first time, a number of big brands co-exhibiting in specially designed spaces, and feature Live Talks by Architonic that focus specifically on collaboration and exchange. Guests will include Stefan Diez, who’ll be discussing the sharing economy, and a sextet of Dutch manufacturers who’ve launched a joint initiative to innovate in circular production and to share their new-found knowledge with the wider industry. (My colleague Claire Brodka first featured the ‘Future > Factory > Furniture’ project as part of our Dutch Design Week coverage, and visitors to imm will get another chance to see their exhibit.) So, I look forward to seeing you in Cologne!

Interestingly, some of the most popular stories on Architonic last year were fair-related, proving they still have a relevance professionally, commercially and culturally. Speaking of which, my colleague James Wormald has been busy compiling our tops of the pops for 2023 – based, as always, on what you, our users, find most interesting – helping you understand the tendencies and contours of the ever-shifting A&D landscape. Among the various rankings this time round you’ll find seven reasons to talk about cork, six evergreen design elements, four alternative types of doorway, but sadly no partridge in a pear tree.

Speaking of insights, this autumn saw the launch of our latest, solutions-driven innovation at DAAily platforms to help brands for the first time get the unvarnished truth about their digital performance – both on our channels and beyond. By providing not only deep insights into their traffic, engagement, campaign and product analytics, but also personalised, data-driven suggestions on how to improve, DAAily insights (we kept the name simple) is a powerful set of online tools that allows manufacturers to get ahead, and, importantly, to stay ahead, in business by helping them target their brand and marketing actions more precisely and with fewer resources. 

What’s more, DAAily insights also provides invaluable information on the latest market trends, both in quantitative terms (we’re continually crunching the numbers) and in qualitative ones (we’re giving a platform via a new series of business interviews to leading industry figures). And, thanks to an additional service we’re calling DAAily index, companies will now be able to measure their brand visibility in the market, their technical performance and their exposure across DAAily platforms with a single score. This is just one in a series of innovations that we’ve been working on behind the scenes. There’s a lot more coming in 2024!

It’s a joke that has perhaps worn a little thin at this point, but I introduced a number of my Live Talks guests to the stage this year with biographies I’d asked ChatGPT to write. There was humour in some of the, let’s say, creative licence that AI took in their generation. Joking aside, artificial intelligence has, of course, moved centre-stage in 2023 for a great many industries and segments. Launched last November, it took just five days for ChatGPT to clock up a million users. By comparison, Instagram and Facebook needed 2.5 and 10 months respectively to reach the same milestone figure. 

It’s important for us, at Architonic, to be clear about how we use AI in our editorial operations. Know this: nothing that we publish online hasn’t been crafted by one of our very human team members. While we may sometimes use artificial-intelligence tools for research or developmental purposes (as is increasingly the case within the world of A&D practice that we reflect), we can guarantee that we have our hands all over what we produce. Why? Well, we believe in the uniqueness of our voice to inform, inspire and entertain our readers, while covering the premium design brands with which are often asked to partner with an authoritative, third-party, critical perspective.

Storytelling is in our DNA and this can’t be replicated.

I think that’s enough from me! All that remains is to thank you all for your continued partnership and to wish you a very happy and restorative Christmas and holiday period.

Stay well and see you on the other side!

Simon Keane-Cowell
Editor-in-Chief

PS: Architonic will be at a number of the big international design fairs next year, so do come and say hello if you see us…

© Architonic

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