As we enter the peak of summer months, current affairs and recent global issues seem to be finding a slower pace through thoughtful action. Whether due to the heat, holiday breaks, or simply the worldwide fatigue of dealing with the harsh reality of the pandemic and activism efforts, August’s themes represent a small shift in perspective. Like the dust settling after a storm, we are left with a more careful and slower outlook on reality. The creative spheres are quick to adapt, offering ideas and solutions that reflect this mellow state of mind, both through concepts as well as through design and visuals.

Here are this month’s top themes, curated and filtered through our lens, for you to read and explore.

Wine and dine innovations

New ideas in outdoor dining and products to fit the pandemic climate are here to help us cope with how and where we eat with the new restrictions. Mediamatic, an arts center in Amsterdam, has set up a socially distanced dining experience where guests sit in their own greenhouse and hosts wear face shields. The ‘Pebble,’ a collaboration between Pentatonic and Pharell Williams’ company OTHERWARE, is a compact, portable dining set made from recycled materials that is perfect for hygenic, on-the-go meals. PriestmanGoode has taken this trend into the world of takeout, creating a takeout set made from sustainable materials that are designed for reuse

Love in the time of lockdown

Is the dating scene changing for good? Relationships, both new and old, are now only just starting to see the effects of quarantine surface. How will we meet, date and court in this new reality? Will we spend each and every day at home with our spouses if we no longer go to the office? As China sees a spike in divorce rates, will this effect ripple around the world or will we just need to adjust ourselves and our relationships accordingly?

These issues are being addressed via magazines and media outlets in new ongoing series, as well as through social media hashtags, stories, and dedicated accounts. On the virtual dating front, OKCupid reported a massive spike in user engagement, which increased drastically as shutdowns intensified. All other major dating apps, like Tinder and Hinge, also reported as high as a 30 percent rise in user activity.

Mindful content

The ongoing focus on mental health has come together with digital content, with meditation apps and new mindfulness podcasts on the rise. During this pandemic, this daily mindfulness ritual has become a free, necessary practice in a massively growing number of households.

Spotify launched a daily wellness playlist; the meditation app Headspace launched a free service for unemployed Americans; and kids meditation services are on the rise. The skincare brand Skintimates took this a step further, launching a new body care line that is accompanied by shower meditation videos, bringing two daily rituals together.

Fashion takes a deep breath

This month we see the fashion industry reexamining the way it operates with the resources currently at hand. Gucci streamed its recent online fashion show using its own employees as models, where the company’s designers, researchers and others styled themselves and posed. Swedish men’s brand Tre’s Bien created an entirely handmade collection during lockdown, using only existing fabrics and in-house talent to manufacture it in studio in Malmo. French brand Jacquemus presented a socially-distanced show in an open field, with chairs set widely apart and models walking in the open air.