Nick Lovegrove

Exit Design, a studio based in Bangalore, asked me to write a short piece on the theme of ‘trends’ for their February newsletter. Read the abridged version here.

We live in an age where it’s easier than ever to keep up to date with examples of the best design. We are no longer dependent on magazine or book editors to decide what’s ‘hot’. The endless array of blogs, online portfolios and image sharing sites means that designers can check out work from all over the world in a matter of a few clicks.

This wealth of information makes trends easier to spot, consciously or unconsciously. In any form of design trends should happen naturally, usually as a reaction against the perceived status-quo. These trends often lead to glut of similar work caused by lazy designers (or clients) who want to look ‘now’. Whilst here is a danger that the internet makes this plagiarism process easier, it also allows subcultures to develop and share styles organically, free from the controlling eye of the mainstream. However, could this mean the end of localised trends? In the age of the internet could there ever be another ‘Swiss’ school of graphic design, for example?

Most graphic designers like to think they absorb influences from a huge range of sources, then mix them with a large dose of their own personal style, which is then applied to whatever projects they are working on at the time. I’d argue that the truth is somewhat less romantic. Few designers can afford to have their own style. Most of us have to accept jobs from a range of clients and therefore a range of audiences. The chances of your style being suitable for all these applications is highly unlikely.

That’s why personal projects are so important. Free from the restraints of paid work, these experiments allow us to develop our own unique looking work. The aesthetics or techniques developed whilst ‘playing’ will almost certainly feed back into commercial jobs in the future and should also help to distinguish your work from the crowd.

Those individuals over-blessed with talent don’t have to worry about such things. They are the ones who create trends. Illustrator Si Scott and designer/animator Julien Vallée are two good examples. Both developed a unique visual look whilst studying at university and have never had to compromise it for commercial reasons. Clients want their work ‘as it is’. Scott ‘s work has influenced/been plagiarised (another debate entirely!) all over the world, including the logo for the ‘Himalayan’ brand of bottled water here in India, whilst Vallée has been at the forefront of the recent trend for design featuring handcrafted paper sculpture.

David Carson is another trend-setter. His raw, experimental work for Ray Gun magazine in the 1990s largely helped to create the trend for ‘grunge’ graphics. He’s famous for not formally studying graphic design and claims he had little appreciation for the ‘rights and wrongs’ of the discipline. Did this lack of knowledge help him to create his own vision of what graphic design could be? Would he have had the same renegade approach today if he had access to the internet and spent time browsing ffffound.com Then again, could it be argued that you have to be aware of trends to avoid repeating them?

© Nick Lovegrove 2010