Over the next few weeks, I’m doing a campaign for Gap that features profiles of other design bloggers. The interviews are an extension of Gap’s Born To… Campaign, which is about pursuing your passion. As you may have noticed, I’m into that. Find out more about the campaign on the Facebook page here. For completists, the whole set of interviews is over here.
This is Jeremy Gutsche, author of Exploiting Chaos (due out Sept. 1), and founder of Trend Hunter, which is why he can rock this Risky Business action:
I personally think the shot would have been better in tighty whities, but Jeremy has a professional image to maintain, and I guess that means pants. Fair enough.
Trendhunter is a social network for trend spotting and innovation, which means Jeremy is the kind of guy MTV calls when they want to know what’s hip with the kids these days. He grew up in Rural Alberta racing dirt bikes, and now heads up a team of editorial interns and programmers at the Trendhunting office in downtown Toronto.
“Sometimes I’m doing graphic design, other times I’m programming, and other times I’m off in another city doing a speaking gig,” Jeremy says. “I deliver keynote speeches about five to ten times a month, so I’m typically traveling somewhere new.”
The site’s goal is to outpace mainstream media, the idea being that by the time these trends reach the printed page, they’re not cool anymore. But do his eyes ever glaze over at all the hipness? Does everything start to look the same after a while?
“By definition, we’re looking for new things,” Jeremy says. “So they don’t look the same. However, after a week of looking at TrendHunter, everything in a traditional magazine does seem boring and outdated.”
After years of trend immersion, Jeremy has developed a pretty good eye for what will hit. Common themes are creativity, elements of shock or suprise, and of course, the naughty factor. “I’m more happy to see when I am wrong [about a trend],” he says. “We’re looking for all of the little sparks that could capture viral attention, and to be surprised is actually rewarding.”
What’s on Jeremy’s radar right now:
Stupidest Trends
Most Original Trends
Becoming Superhero
[ed note: I’m way ahead of the curve on this.]
Mighty Girl 
This is cool, but I really don’t know what to think about a trendhunter who still has a fauxhawk.
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Lol. It’s a three year old picture. But we sent it because he was jumping off the roof of a truck. It certainly loses effect when they photoshop that out for the white background….
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Too funny that it’s a 3-year-old picture.
Marissa, I’m curious–what is Jeremy’s hairstyle of choice today?
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This is so cool! Thank you for sharing. Although I did have to shut off the self mutilation at #5. BARF!
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So…. is this website just going to turn into a set of glorified commercials for Gap, Intel, Shutterfly, etc? Kind of a disappointment. Miss your real content.
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I don’t understand, I thought this was an interview? Where’s the Q&A? Where’s the insight into the subject? It feels like a giant TrendHunter Ad, minues a huge picture of his new book?
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Not to be harsh, because I’ve been enjoying your blog for 7+ years, but I’m with B.
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Meh. Maggie’s got to pay the bills too. Hank’s got eat and get new dump trucks.
This post doesn’t have much of a “Maggie voice”, per se, but I believe in supporting her site.
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Michelle, I totally get your point. Let me bring some constructive to this criticism: The Intel stuff is great. A giant company funding the hopes and dreams of one fabulous and deserving dame? I’m on board, and I want to read all about it. Trendhunter not so much.
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