What is a Consumer Trend Canvas for a Mobile App

Ihor Polych

CEO at Devlight

Liubomyr Miller

Delivery Director

Consumer Trend Canvas is an easy-to-use analytic tool that allows you to accumulate and discover relevant information on a single “canvas” and is designed to collect business ideas from available “details quickly”: drivers, values, cases, insights, future users, and modern technological solutions.

The Consumer Trend Canvas aims to assess the external environment when working on an idea. If you do not yet have a product concept of your idea, CTC can act as a form of validation. Our template described hereby will help you create sustainable ideas and business solutions.

Why Is It Important to Fill Out a Consumer Trend Canvas?

Trend Canvas is the new standard when it comes to supporting companies and organizations in dealing with ideas systemically. It is not uncommon for people who bear responsibility in a company or organization to feel under pressure. Is this product really necessary? What drivers and values does the team have and how will they help shape the concept of a product that is really needed and valued by users? Use our consumer trend canvas template to tackle all of those issues during the brainstorming process. 

Here are several key benefits of using the Consumer Trend Canvas Model:

• Proven model – thousands of companies have used it для роботи у командах, making it a standard tool for the formation of business ideas and strategy. Apart from this, there are now different proven approaches to CTC — choose your  consumer trend canvas template and be sure about the result;
• Communication – having everyone on the same page is essential in any transformation or innovation process. The CTC is an ideal way to communicate essential information to all stakeholders and team members. It gives everyone a tangible realization of what you are working for and the expected result;
• Risk reduction – building a startup or innovating an existing business is risky. The CTC helps to understand the risks and prioritize the most dangerous factors to approach validation logically to minimize obstacles;
• Simple, not simplistic – you don’t need an MBA to pick up the CTC and start to innovate. The critical approach is to make your consumer trend canvas visual, ideate, test, and learn as you innovate and develop a competitive advantage;
• Speed – given the simplicity and practicality of the CTC, many iterations can be made in a short space of time;
• Design thinking – the CTC is one of the best tools for leveraging the power of design thinking for creating business ideas.

Two Main Components of the Consumer Trend Canvas

The Consumer Trend Canvas model we use at Devlight is divided into two parts — “Analytics” and “Solutions” and acts as a forecasting constructor to create sustainable ideas and business decisions based on core values, emerging drivers of change, observed insights, existing technologies, and emerging discoveries.

Analytics

This segment of our consumer trend canvas example consists of five blocks:

• Drivers and values. Factors currently shaping the world’s picture and leading to new needs and behavioral changes:

• Drivers – What drives you or your team to create this product?
• Values – What are the values behind your ideas?

• Insights. What do we know about the external environment and the market?;
• Technologies. Ideas that can be extracted from existing technologies and their areas of application;
• Cases. Examples from the practice of companies that are already trying to apply new ideas;
• Future users. Who will use it, and who will benefit from your idea?

Solution

The data collected in “Analytics” is used at the “Decisions” stage of the consumer trend canvas implementation, divided into two blocks:

• Competitors — Who are your competitors? How do they implement this idea?;
• Business ideas — the generation of ideas based on drivers and values, insights, technologies, cases, future users, and trends known or identified during the foresight session.

How to Fill Out a Consumer Trend Canvas? 

You can carry out the impact analysis alone or in a team. Both ways are valuable and provide interesting insights. If you work in a team, real dialogue is required — on the one hand, to explain the intuitive statements consciously. On the other hand, to articulate the interpretations precisely so that all team members have approximately the same understanding of the resulting picture. 

Devlight divides the process of working with its consumer trend canvas example into 8 steps. All process steps must be run through completely and in sequence in order to be able to deliver meaningful results.

Step 1. Drivers and Values 

What drivers do you and your team have for product development? Write down 3-5 main ones. What values do you want to create a product based on? How will your product affect users’ lives? This section is about what motivates and encourages you to create your mobile app.

Step 2. Insights

This step will help you sharpen your focus for generating insights. Ask yourself: “What do we know about the external environment and the market?”

“Insights” from a consumer trend canvas refers to the key takeaways and understanding that are gained from analyzing data and information about consumer behavior and preferences. This can include identifying patterns and trends in how consumers interact with products and services, understanding their motivations and needs, and identifying areas for potential growth or improvement.

Step 3. Technology

Answer the questions: How is technology changing, and what is the driver for this process? Which solutions appear in the adjacent dominance?

Technologies are highly important for a consumer trend canvas since they help you translate insights into real actions. You have an idea of the product, but how do you plan to create it, make it work, and bring your ideas to life? Think over programming languages, app-building tools, mobile development frameworks, and technological trends you plan to use. 

Step 4. Cases

Look for inspiration — search for cases of implementation of your idea. What can we learn from them? It is worth considering not only positive cases but also negative ones — they will help you not to repeat their mistakes. Innovation typically happens when previously unconnected information is integrated and used in a fresh, practical context. Businesses should draw inspiration from diverse sectors, viewpoints, geographical locations, and cultural traditions.

Step 5. Future Users

Who are your future users? What benefits will they get from your product? Determination of future users will open the door for you to understand how they interact with a mobile application. The user profile includes demographic, social, and other characteristics, as well as specific goals of the potential user. This pseudo-character helps to determine the base for whom the application is developed and why it is exactly that.

Step 6. Trends 

Analyze which trends dominate the market. How will they affect your product? A trend is the overall course the market takes over a certain period. While no set minimum amount of time is needed for a direction to be termed a trend, the trend becomes more noticeable the longer the direction is maintained. Keep up with the trend analysis, and choose the one that refers to your drivers and values.

Step 7. Сompetitors

Identify major competitors who already have existing products. Conducting a competition study will help you improve your marketing and company plans. Identify your distinctive advantages and potential development constraints. Additionally, a competitive analysis keeps your company proactive rather than reactive. 

Step 8. Business Ideas

The entire process of working with Trend Canvas is focused on the “Business Idea.” Analyze the previous steps — what business ideas did you come up with? What will help you to build your product? Unite all of the insights into a single generative process resulting in a perfected business idea. It should coincide with your company’s values, be innovative, be created considering your competitors’ mistakes/best practices, have an audience, and follow a certain trend.

Consumer Trend Canvas Template

Now that you have read about this tool, you are ready to bring your knowledge into practice. Start describing the different needs, expectations, and possible innovative solutions with our consumer trend canvas template!

How to use it?

1. Print the blank template as big as you can! Try using it to structure an ideation session with your team. Alternatively, use tools like Milo or Figma to create a web version and fill it out in real-time.
2. Start with the first segment: “Analyze,” — add supporting insights, data, and examples. Keep circling back to re-examine how the segments relate to each other. Insights in one segment may highlight other elements and help you uncover truly novel concepts.
3. Then turn to another segment: “Solution” will help you identify how to bring the analytical part to life. What means will you use? What would you like to implement?

Congratulations! Your new business ideas will be deeply grounded in consumers’ wants and described in a detailed consumer trend canvas. Therefore, it’s more likely to be successful.

Features of the Consumer Trends Canvas Template 

The CTC is just a tool. It will be as useful as much work you will get out of it. Download a printable blank canvas and start filling it in. Or even better, schedule a session with your team and see what you come up with online. Either way, you decide on what is the best approach, which details are worth your attention, and what results you plan to receive.

Here are the main consumer trend canvas template features:

• The CTC  is a comprehensive and holistic framework for identifying new business idea and developing innovative products or services. 
• The consumer trends canvas we use requires the company to describe your concept in eight key parts: drivers&values, insights, technologies, cases, future users, trends, competitors, and the business ideas.

What benefits does CTC offer?

• It makes processes clearer and helps to look at the situation globally, thanks to the thoughtful placement of blocks;
• Revealing weaknesses. Take a fresh look at the idea, detail it, and analyze the activity. Perhaps there is something that can be improved;
• Cuts off excess. The CTC highlights aspects that require attention;
• Corporate info-matrix. This model is an understandable way of conveying the viewpoint to partners. Our consumer trend canvas example helps to present information in an accessible, concise manner.

Consumer Trend Canvas: Summary

The consumer trend canvas is an effective communication tool, making it easy to validate the project’s concept (in the context of creating a mobile app or launching a new innovation, for example). Thanks to a simple formalization of the project, all the people involved can easily understand the content of the CTC. The consumer trend canvas template described constitutes a robust conviction tool to convince stakeholders of the performance of the product/service.