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Graphic Design
#42

The difference between fads, trends and styles is ambiguous, and the terms might mean different things to different people.

The following are just my definitions, but I’m mentioning them for the sake of clarifying my opinions on this whole subject.

  • A fad is a short-lived phenomenon that a small subset of people might embrace for a few months.
  • A trend is a broader, somewhat slower movement that becomes obvious over the course of a year or two and, then, disappears or morphs into something else over a similar amount of time.
  • A style is a longer-lived change in aesthetic preferences that develops slowly, becomes ubiquitous, then gradually gives way to something else over time.

I’m completely in favor of paying attention to what’s going on in the design world. And I’m most definitely a proponent of seeing new things that spark new ideas that can be reworked, reimagined and reincorporated in different ways into one’s own work.

What I’m totally against is the baffling assumption that jumping on the trend bandwagon in the mistaken belief that imitating what various design commentators say other designers are or will be doing in any given year somehow makes one a better designer.

Behance says that duotones are big in 2018. Pantone says their new Blooming Dahlia 15-1520 is set to be a big hit this spring. LogoLounge says ellipses were suddenly hot for last year (this year, maybe not).

It might be interesting (or not) that a slightly higher percentage of logos submitted to LogoLounge last year involved ellipses, but so what? Actual duotones and 4-color fake duotones have been around for at least a century. Blooming Dahlia is a pretty color, but all Pantone is trying to do is promote a new product. All the blogs and podcasts regurgitating this kind of thing are just trying to attract an audience.

If ellipses, hexagons, subtle shadows, overlapping colors, thin lines, or whatever, work for the job at hand, use them. If not don’t. The same was true ten years ago and will be true ten years from now.

It might be interesting that a slightly higher percentage of designers are using rounded corners than they were last years, but in all but a tiny minority of projects clients don’t care, target audiences don’t care, and it makes no difference to the successful solution to the problem.

Staying current is good. Paying attention is good. Incorporating new ideas is good. Getting caught up in a game of follow the leader is not good.

#43

What is this discussion about. Knowing a certain trend doesn’t make your design pop out of the mediocrity.

Knowing the possibilities of your toolbox (software and other options) will define if you’re client is a happy customer. If you read all the trends and you want to press your customer to accept the trends in stead of working together with your client to achieve a project that both sides are happy with is a wrong assession. Creating an idea is a process that comes from both sides and the respect from both sides.

That is not an easy process but it can be a long time relationship.

Jumping on to trends market makes an idea from the start ‘dated’, you don’t want that…

Who uses grunge fonts anymore, but they were defenitly an issue in the nineties.

Copycat never works and neither do templates.

#44

Eric, data trends can help identify the market on a large scale. I used to be a market data analyst at Nordstrom, and they certainly focus on shopping behavior, and analyze it from every angle.

But at the design level, colors, fonts, layout, other elements, should be selected because they will help connect with that specific target market. Shoppers still buy from the emotions.

#45

Emotion can come from what a particular demographic design trend may be at that time. If a trend is off just a little bit your demographic may feel that emotionally and not buy.

#46

Templates are very helpful. I’ve used my own templates years later.

Knowing design data trends can be very helpful in serving you and your client to solve the problem of communicating to a particular demo.

Why is there such a resistance to understanding this?

#47

OR maybe we are all saying the same thing but coming from different points of view.

  1. Design trends can be helpful.
  2. Being aware of trends in design should not debilitate you as a designer.
  3. Do not copy trends. Use them as a tool to better understand what your client and demographic.
#48

Design data trends need to be methodically determined and statistically accurate before they’re useful. Even then, they need to yield the kind of information that reflects target audience preferences and not just the Brownian-motion-like shifts in designer proclivities from one year to the next.

Most of the design trend pronouncements I’ve seen are purely anecdotal, which are useless for any kind of statistical analysis. Predictions based on anecdotally gathered trends are even more useless. Actions based on those kinds of voodoo predictions are downright foolish.

Trends that do have some statistical validity, like, stylistic shifts that show up in yearly annual design competition submissions, might be interesting. But they’re still of strictly limited value since they’re primarily a reflection of designer preferences and/or technical innovations rather of target audience engagement.

On the other hand, if, say, an auto manufacturer has statistical data showing a quantifiable trend away from red cars and toward blue cars, that’s useful information with money-saving predictive potential. But this is precisely the kind of example DocPixel used when she mentioned market data analysis at Nordstrom.

Maybe you have some statistically valid and useful design trend data, and if you do, I’d like to see it. Personally, I’ve run across very little of that kind of thing — at least in the context of what this thread has been about up until now.

#49

Very possibly. :grin:

#50

Well, that deescalated quickly.

1 Like
#51

I won’t use the word “wrong.” But if you are talking about a particular instance in time such as “the latest” time, then it’s oversimplified. If you are talking about a time period such as the last decade or what works for the newest generation of young adults, then you are getting warmer. If you are talking about longer periods such as the information age or the post-industrial age, then you are even warmer. And if your time period is as broad as the modern era, you’re flexible enough to use any graphic communication trend that has worked within the last 5 centuries and might work again depending on the brand and message you are sending.

I’m not saying that 18th Century Calligraphy will work on the Samsung booth at the Consumer Electronics show. I’m saying that 18th Century Calligraphy might work on a wine bottle label or a museum exhibit.

#52

In your experience there has been little, if any, “statistically valid data” that can serve the designer well in design trends? So if a photo research company like istock or 123rf say their data has a 980% increase in space and space technology that wouldn’t be something data trend-worth for a designer?

I would use that information to better connect with my applicable audience; maybe incorporate a night sky with many stars, a moon, a satellite instead of a daytime scene as a background as long as it suits the overall purpose of the project; doesn’t jeopardize the communication; as long as it helps it.

That would be extremely helpful information.

#53

Well, maybe, but it would likely be a fairly minor consideration that would largely be overridden by other, more immediately relevant, concerns. Sixty million households in the U.S. own dogs and 94 percent of Americans supposedly eat pizza, for example, but I’ve never made a conscious effort to work them into layouts.

I don’t disagree with your broader premise, however, about paying attention to things that might affect the success of a design solution. Even my disagreement about following trends isn’t a disagreement in kind as much as it’s a disagreement in degree.

My main point in this thread is that designers who seem fixated on trends on trendiness have their priorities mixed up.

2 Likes
#54

Cool. Thanks!

#55

No, not if the target audience is preschools or wedding planners. Space technology has no place in that kind of design project.

Data trends are useful in the bigger picture, but graphic design happens down in the trenches where the people are.

1 Like
#56

Hmm, I disagree.

#57

Okay. I’m cool with that. :wink:

#58

And respectfully so… :smiley:

#59

Tips hat.

#60

I’d wonder first what event might have prompted that before adding space elements to any particular design.
For instance, was there just an eclipse? Or maybe just some millionaire launching a car and spacesuit into space…

Data is great. It can also be manipulated in just about any way you want (or by anyone with a marketing intent, like said stock company.) Relying on raw data can send you barking up the wrong tree.

#61

Also, I don’t believe that istock and 123rf would be considered “photo research” companies. They’re in the business of selling usage of stock images that are submitted to them.

They may have data on the type of images they receive, but I wouldn’t base any marketing decisions on that.

Eric, correct me if I’m wrong, and they do research too.