If you haven’t read the previous blog post introducing the four possible future worlds, here’s a brief summary: based on current trends in beauty and how we use social platforms, we predicted how beauty would be perceived in 2030 using the 2x2 matrix method of scenario building. We identified four possibilities; first is a world that we call ‘Real,’ where people embrace their physical identities and flaws, and beauty filters and digital augmentations are uncommon. Physical identity and natural beauty are first and foremost in this world.

I know that this ‘Real’ world does not sound that exciting and doesn’t…

What does the future hold? As a child, I loved movies like Back to the Future, which projected what the future might look like. They always had some form of hoverboard and robotic-looking styles. I enjoyed telling stories of new inventions and discoveries — imagining how the world would be in my adulthood. Perhaps it was foreshadowing for my career as a design strategist and futurist.

As an adult, I’m still excited about the future, but now I see different perspectives for each technological advancement, perspectives that I didn’t see as a kid. Instead of imagining the future through stories…

“What we do today, right now, will have an accumulated effect on all our tomorrows” — perhaps we should take this Alexandra Stoddard quote more seriously. The ways in which we use social platforms, apps, and technologies today will impact our lives decades from now. Some of the effects may be reversible, some may not be. At the moment, it is important that we think about where these social platforms and the behaviours they impact are taking us.

As I mentioned in my last blog post, apps like Facetune and social platforms like Snapchat and Instagram have a huge impact…

When I tried Snapchat’s puppy face filter back in 2015, I never thought the same technology would be considered the norm six years later. As Augmented Reality advanced further, more filters were developed, with beauty filters gaining the most popularity. These so-called beauty filters have slowly been distorting our perception of beauty and expectations of humans.

From puppy face filter to impossible beauty standards

Our perception of beauty and the ‘ideal body’ has changed over time and will continue to change. What’s alarming is that the percentage of people dissatisfied with their bodies is increasing at a drastic rate. According…

Imagine this: You wake up in the morning and log in to your work calendar. You see a day with a good balance of meetings that will accomplish your goals for the day, and time to do necessary work. What if we could introduce processes that minimize the time required to talk about work or fight off random tasks flung our way by equally harried co-workers? What if we could organize our days around a small number of discrete objectives? (The New Yorker: The Rise and Fall of Getting Things Done)

I have been researching asynchronous productivity for the past…

Once upon a time, there was a global pandemic. Bermuda, whose economy relies heavily on tourism, invited remote workers to their beautiful island to escape since they had almost zero COVID cases. As the travel opportunist that I am, I jumped at the opportunity to live somewhere beautiful that happened to be much safer and warmer than my apartment in Toronto’s winter. I was privileged to have a job and supportive leadership in order to live in Bermuda for about 3 months. In this article, I am speaking from my experience, filling in my gaps with research, and asking Bermudian…

I’m a huge advocate for “solving the right problems in the right way”. Here’s what I mean.

On September 9, 2020 I was invited to speak at 12Coffee, “a not-for-profit speaker series consisting of 12 bi-weekly virtual coffee chats between students and a guest industry leader. You can watch the talk and Q&A here!

Due to popular demand, I started with a high-level overview of Design Thinking.

Design Thinking has become popular in the past 10 or so years. It’s a way of applying a designer’s mindset to problems that previously didn’t take that approach.

I’ve included a definition and…

I recently came across a prompt on social media that asked “how has 2020 changed you?”. Here’s my answer.

2020 forced me to slow down. In the process, I learned a lot about myself.

1. I am a recovering workaholic.

I have always moved very fast and juggled a lot of things. From growing up as a competitive dancer (changing in the car and doing my homework on the school bus) to now having a full-time job, two side businesses, and balancing health/social life/ hobbies — having a full plate was nothing new.