Designing for cultural resonance in new markets

The challenge

An automotive brand known for its engineering and innovation credentials was preparing to enter the Middle Eastern market. For a new launch, the design team needed culturally adept insight that could align its heritage brand with future Middle Eastern consumers.

The team already knew the region had strong traditions, complex consumer values, and rapidly evolving luxury expectations. However, they were struggling to access deeper insight that would translate their knowledge into specific design directions and strategy. Without this cultural foundation, they risked creating designs that felt imported rather than rooted in regional values and aspirations.

Regional collaboration and design direction forecasting

Stylus Advisory's in-house design, colour and materials specialists collaborated with local experts to define and refine a series of design directions that would resonate with consumers in the Gulf region.

Each direction built on our global tracking of longer-term macro forces and our continuous assessment of how design cues evolve in reaction to cultural change. Our ability to integrate regional lifestyle and aesthetic trends alongside resonant cultural codes meant we delivered bespoke, future-facing insights rather than generic forecasting.

Three design themes with visual and material guidance

We delivered contextual macro and consumer trend research, showing where, how and why aesthetic trends emerge and evolve, in succinct, visually stunning summaries.

At the core of the project, the team received three distinct design themes forecasting directions for interior materiality, exterior styling, in-car UX, brand identity, and retail and service environments. We also developed regionally appropriate colour palettes for each design direction.

A collaborative creative springboard

The design team particularly valued our collaborative approach: sharing initial ideas and broad themes early on, then collectively exploring insights to refine our research direction and choice of themes. This process ensured the final work served as a true creative springboard for the design teams.

As one team member put it: “This work gave us a cultural foundation we couldn't have built alone: it made the difference between entering the market and belonging in it.”