Huy Le

Caruso

UWRT 1103

210 April 2017

Defense Paper: How a Trend Becomes a Trend

When people hear the word trend they think of fashion trends and popular internet cultures, but

its more than that. A trend is a style that society takes on and outlines how people society behaves or

thinks a certain way for a period of time. [Henrik Vejlgaard, 2017]. Trends are very difficult to predict and

there have been whole studies and researchers dedicated to trend forecasting. Trends can start at

anytime and by anyone under any circumstance. Different trends can also only affect different people. For

example, the trend of man buns are for men who have long hair, or internet memes affecting those

who browse into world of online culture. Trends can also be staples of the modern day world that

everyone does everyday dictates how people behave or rules that everyone abides by. They can be

cultural and entertainment rules or how youre supposed to behave in every situation. This can include the

idea that drugs are cool, or not being able to scream loudly in class or everyone will think youre weird,

or asking someone out is the main way to initiate romance. I want to focus on the short term trends,

the trend that come and go, and how these trends start, what path they take, and their end.

For my product, I wanted to make an interactive questionnaire on how to make a trend. This

questionnaire would be on a google documents and forms file that could be accessed on the internet via

link to the forms file. The reason I chose to make a questionnaire is because I wanted to take the user on a

small experience of what it is like for an idea to become a trend. For instance, ideas can make or break

depending on how the person with the idea choose to spread the idea and how the public responds to it. I

chose using to use a questionnaire instead of quiz because I also dont want the quiz to be linear, but

rather open ended, and that all the questions apply applied to all the trends because every trend has a

different experience and that the questions applied to the questions are all different for each type of trend.

For instance, internet trends can spread quickly through many different mediums like social media,
creative media websites like tumblr, or informational websites like youtube. Internet trends can also die

quickly as well since the response received is fast and if the responses are negative. Social and real life

trends happen for long periods of time, from start to finish. [Jonathan Openshaw. 2017]. Trendstarters

make up 2.5% of the population and 13% make up the early adopters, which are the people who spread

the trend. Its up to these people how they want to spread the trend and determine whether the idea will be

a trend or not. On my questionnaire, I want to set up the questions as a journey. One question leads to

another and a different question will lead to a different follow-up question. I want to convey that leading

an idea is a different experience every time depending on how and where you want to take that question.

And each experience is therefore unique to each trend.

The My questions will be laid out differently from one another, but each having one goal in mind,

the demand for such a trend. By asking specific questions to each category, I can determine the demand or

need for a trend like that to happen. For instance, in the fashion category, if an idea like silly hats for old

people get is put in and run it through the program, then the idea will be unlikely to trend since the

demand for such a trend is low or non-existing. I want to make the program open-ended and make certain

that each trend goes through different situations and questions because so. For example instance, for a

fashion trend, you would ask for an age demographic whereas you dont need to do that for a culture trend

since culture mainly lies with the younger generation anyway. Or you wouldnt ask a music trend does

your idea benefit the user like it would a technology trend.

In the end, I put up a result screen depicting and evaluating your choices as you go through the

program. It will determine the difficulty of getting your trend out and some also say a few words as to

how you can go about it differently. I wanted to make this part open-ended and not a straightforward

answer as to if you can or cannot succeed in making a trend. This program is Make a Trend!, so I

believe that the choices the user makes will determine how their idea will end but also give tips and

suggestions as to how you can succeed in making your trend. I also believe that trends can go into very

specific areas as well as their popularity can boast large numbers even if the trend is absolutely ridiculous.
Therefore I believe that I cannot go into specifics of if you can or cannot succeed with your idea but

rather if it is hard or easy to accomplish your task.

For my trend program, I want to focus on short-term trends rather than the long-term ones. By

short-term I mean trends that come and go and change fast, like fashion trends or idea trends. Long-term

trends are trends that dictate how people behave and how they have behaved for a very long time, like

how youre supposed to act at a funeral. Short-term trends are also easier to manifest than long-term ones

because they dont affect everyone in the world and is also easier to adapt into modern culture because

they usually die off after a period of some time. [Jonathan Openshaw. 2017]. At the very end of the

program, after the checkpoints, the idea inputted will be judged if it can be a trend or not along with a

summary/review page or slide that will talk about your choices with your answers as well as the negatives

about the decisions as well as the idea itself. There will also be examples of trends like the one you made.

For instance, if your fashion trend was chosen for a small audience, its not likely to becomes largely

popular and has a small chance of dying off early. Like the trend of hoop earrings or harlem shake.

References

1. Henrik Vejlgaard. 2017. Q & As on Trend Forecasting and the Trend Process.

2. Jonathan Openshaw. 2017. HOW DO TRENDS HAPPEN?