The TREND RESEARCH tool was designed to explore the connection between personal identity, cultural background, and visions of living, through an experiential, accessible, and highly symbolic activity. This tool is particularly effective in educational, co-design, and training contexts, as it enables deep reflection on lifestyles, habits, values, and needs that shape our idea of “home.”
The strength of this tool lies in its ability to reveal implicit preferences and internalized cultural choices, which often remain unexplored but significantly influence how we live in and imagine spaces. Through the card game, the comparison of micro-trends, the selection of symbolic objects, and the visualization of ideal environments, learners build an authentic and layered representation of their way of living.
TREND RESEARCH thus becomes a bridge between the personal and collective spheres: it helps learners recognize not only their own living style but also the mechanisms through which empathy is built toward other models and needs. Every response, choice, or story contributes to generate an identity map that can be used to create spaces that are more coherent, flexible, and capable of embracing diversity.
Its modular structure also allows adaptation to multicultural contexts, integrating religious references, caregiving practices, family rituals, or symbolic codes typical of different cultures. In this sense, TREND RESEARCH is not only a tool for self-exploration but also a powerful inclusion device that values differences as design resources.
A tool that speaks to everyone
The cards are designed to be accessible, inclusive, and versatile. No technical preparation is required: anyone can engage with the game and respond in their own way – by choosing narrating, writing, or simply observing.
The visual and symbolic dimension also allows users with cognitive, linguistic, or relational challenges to participate, valuing alternative communication styles.
Easily customizable and expandable ayful, and empathetic structure
The set can be enriched over time by adding new cards, languages, or cultural codes, even in co-design with learners. Visual, auditory, tactile, or textual content can be integrated, or questions adapted according to age, context, and group. This allows the tool to evolve alongside the community that uses it.
A bridge between personal experience and spatial design
The reflections prompted by the cards go beyond the surface: they become a lens for observing desires, reference models, cultural values, and implicit needs. The experience of selection, narration, and reflection activates a deep process of self-recognition that can be translated into more empathetic design choices aligned with the everyday reality of living.
Ready to use, easy to replicate
The TREND RESEARCH tool stands out for its operational practicality. All necessary materials – the box, rigid cards, and supporting graphic elements – are simple to produce, store, and reuse. The structure makes the tool easy to bring into classrooms, workshops, or community settings: it can be used with small groups or individually, without requiring specialized equipment.
Facilitation does not require advanced technical skills but rather a capacity for attentive listening and guided observation. The role of the facilitator is to introduce the cards with sensitivity, encourage open and non-judgmental dialogue, and support learners in articulating their preferences and choices. Thanks to its adaptable format, the tool can be easily customized to reflect different cultural backgrounds, languages, and settings, ensuring effective use across a wide variety of educational and design contexts – even beyond the original scope of the project.
It is a lightweight yet powerful kit, capable of activating deep reflections with just a few well-designed elements.
Made with love by Wellhome team
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
