ASID Report Identifies Factors Impacting Design in 2024

Four cultural shifts will impact the design community in the next year, according to a new report by the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID). Outlined in the trade group’s 2024 Trends Outlook, the directions include consumers’ desire for connection; the allure of quiet luxury; the increasing importance of sustainability and wellness; and the continued blurring of the spaces in which we live, work, and play.

Gen Z is having an oversized influence on these new design priorities. Having lived through a pandemic and grown up in the specter of global warming, this cohort—the most racially and ethnically diverse generation yet—desires genuine connection with friends and family. Social justice informs how they live and work, and they want spaces that reflect their values. As such, they’re also helping drive greater diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the built environment.

These DEI efforts take multiple physical forms, including offices and health clinics that support users’ different cultural, economic, and life-stage needs. Sustainability also plays a part, with more designers recognizing the interconnectedness of environmental stewardship with the physical and mental well-being of individuals and communities.

The report also notes that as the delineations between home, work, and leisure spaces fade, so are the boundaries between design sectors. Increasingly, cross-specialty solutions are the norm, as evinced by long-term residential hotels, living rooms in corporate offices, and team workspaces at luxury resorts.

One final factor poised to impact design in 2024 is the growing prevalence of AI. Although the technology has long been utilized in commercial practice, its residential applications are gaining popularity. Younger designers are embracing AI to generate floor plans, energy models, and construction documents as well as to allow occupants to customize their own designs.

The 2024 Trends Outlook is the first of three reports that the ASID creates annually. The other two, Economic Outlook and State of Interior Design, will be released in spring.