The 2021 yearbook: developments and observations
Welcome to this year's yearbook – our opportunity to look back on a year of creative endeavors. It's always fun to flip through an awards magazine or website to see if your favorite work of the year got on the list and if there is anything exciting and interesting to do in the deluge of creative work that is being published have overlooked every year. Most useful, however, is to examine what trends in creative or design thinking can be deduced from each year's winners, and examine which direction we are all headed and which may be next.
The past year and a half have of course been dramatically overshadowed by an important global event: the Covid-19 pandemic. Words like "unparalleled" have been overused, but this time all the clichés are true. The pandemic has dramatically changed our daily lives and work flows, and has also made it clear how many of our modern ways of life we have taken for granted – from being able to go to a restaurant or shop to taking a little break so that our children can allowed to go to school.
The pandemic was devastating for many in the creative industries, especially in the event or hospitality industry, and for freelancers. And those of us with more stable attitudes in companies who could work from home still had to adjust to a completely new way of working, far away from colleagues and colleagues.
Graphic by Mark Titchner, created for the art initiative Your Space or Mine by the media group Build Hollywood; Above: Cover for New York Times Magazine, shot by Philip Montgomery
The impact of constantly changing the rules on businesses is well documented, but the pandemic has also shown just how much the creative industry has also faced the challenges that arise from successfully switching online companies or finding new ways to reach customers despite the limitations to stay afloat. There was also an abundance of artwork and ideas in response, especially during the first few months of the lockdown when the public used social media to share their advice, fears, and hopes about what was happening.
Despite the many, many reflections on how Covid-19 will affect us all in the long term, we still remain in the dark about what the real "new normal" will look like. It's likely that flexible working will stay with us, raising fascinating questions about how our offices could be remodeled or how city life will be different if people choose to live further away and work more from home.
And while most of us are desperate (desperate!) To go back to an exhibition, gig, or play in real life, it seems certain that events in the future will have a virtual aspect as well. This is most likely the case in the industry talks industry, which has always been prohibitively expensive for many. For these events it certainly makes sense to give someone the opportunity to listen virtually in the future if they cannot participate in the flesh.
But beyond the all-encompassing shadow of the coronavirus, what other trends and changes can we see among the winners and honorable mentions in this year's CR yearbook?