---
title: "Dashboard Navigation Basics"
url: "https://help.spate.nyc/en/article/how-to-navigate"
language: "en"
last_updated: "2026-05-07T20:33:33.743Z"
---

# Dashboard Navigation Basics

The Spate dashboard is designed to help you move from **trend discovery → understanding → action**.

This guide walks through the main areas of the platform and how they connect to the **Trend Lifecycle framework**.

* * *

## How to Navigate Spate

The left-hand navigation is your primary way to explore trends, brands, and industries.

Each section serves a different purpose depending on what you’re trying to do.

![](https://cdn-assets.productfruits.com/ee01818a-ac88-4aa8-a459-e2b3876c0143)

* * *

## Trends

The **Trends** section is where you explore **consumer behavior and emerging signals**.

You can view trends by:

-   **By Category** → Explore trends within a specific category
-   **Hashtags** → Analyze social-driven trends
-   **Ingredients** → Dive into ingredient-level insights
-   And More → Identify key insights in related categories

This is the primary place to understand:

> **What is trending and where it sits in the lifecycle**

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## Brands

The **Brands** section helps you understand **who is winning within trends**.

You can explore brands by:

-   **By Category** → Brand performance within a category
-   **Hashtags** → Brand presence in social conversations
-   **Posts** → Brand-related content and activity

Use this section to:

-   Evaluate competitive landscape
-   Track brand momentum
-   Identify emerging or declining players

* * *

## My Watchlist

The **Watchlist** allows you to track specific trends, brands, or categories over time.

Use it to:

-   Monitor important trends
-   Stay updated on changes
-   Keep key insights easily accessible
-   Analyze competitors

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## Alerts

The **Alerts** section helps you stay informed automatically.

You can set alerts for:

-   Emerging trends
-   Specific categories or brands

Alerts ensure you don’t miss important shifts without constantly checking the dashboard.

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## Spotlight

**Spotlight** highlights curated insights and notable trends identified by Spate.

Use it to:

-   Quickly understand key market shifts
-   Discover high-impact trends
-   Stay informed on what matters most

* * *

## Experiments

The **Experiments** section includes new and evolving features.

Currently available:

-   **Reddit Insights** → Explore early consumer conversations and emerging signals from community-driven platforms

This section reflects Spate’s expansion into **new data sources and methodologies**.

* * *

## Industries

The **Industries** section provides a **top-down view of trends within a specific market**.

Available industries include:

-   Beauty
-   Personal Care
-   Wellness
-   Home & Pet
-   Cultural Shifts
-   Grocery
-   Beverages
-   Culinary
-   Occasions

Use this section to:

-   Understand category-level trends
-   Compare performance across industries
-   Identify macro-level opportunities
-   Understand the shifts happening within a category

* * *

## How This Connects to the Trend Lifecycle

Each section of the dashboard supports a different part of the workflow:

-   **Trends** → Identify lifecycle stage
-   **Brands** → Understand competitive dynamics
-   **Industries** → See category-level shifts

Together, these views help you move from:

> **Discovery → Interpretation → Action**

* * *

## Search

Use the search bar or ⌘K to quickly find:

-   Trends
-   Brands
-   Ingredients
-   Categories

This is the fastest way to navigate directly to a specific topic.

* * *

## Suggesting Feedback

If you can’t find a trend, brand, or category, you can submit a request directly in the platform.

You’ll see a prompt that allows you to:

-   Enter the missing trend, brand, or ingredient
-   Add optional context
-   Submit feedback to the Spate team

Spate reviews all submissions and uses this feedback to:

-   Improve coverage
-   Add new trends
-   Refine data accuracy

This helps ensure the platform continues to reflect real-world consumer behavior.

![](https://cdn-assets.productfruits.com/e7ab3c57-9e7c-457f-81ba-901fc77e7f8c)