We've all noticed color palettes and styles that come and go, whether it's clothing, furniture, bedding, or wall colors for the home. Trends can "date" a piece; it happens routinely in the cyclical nature of fashion.
Graphic design falls into the same habits. Sure, styles and trends can date your work. But what about overuse, where you no longer make an impact? We see the same things over and over, and we lose interest. Sometimes it's not a national or international trend. It may be a rut we create on a smaller scale, within a work environment or in the classroom.
One trend in our classroom is the simple mention of Spanx in every brainstorm. It's innocent and lightly humorous, mainly because no one actually does a project about Spanx. And if it were done once for a project it would probably still be funny.
I've observed another very common theme in our class. Even if our professors love monsters and zombies, there should be a more compelling reason to choose that subject matter. Maybe the interest is genuine and the existing knowledge base is great but, if anything, isn't that reason enough NOT to do it? Haven't we seen enough zombies, monsters, and vampires to last us all a lifetime?! We should all be challenged to step outside of our comfort zone and try new things.
Am I the only one who is [yawn] completely bored with this subject matter? Anyone care to weigh in on this?
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1 comment:
I'm with you on this one, Janet. Something that came up in reviews was stepping out of your comfort zone and taking risks. Maybe zombies and monsters are a risk for some people (they would definitely be for me), but a designer isn't really taking a chance anymore after something's been done. It's a bolder move to come up with the next big thing.
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