Design Thoughts 1

It has been said, and I am one to agree, that design is cyclical. That we are not truly making any new innovations to the field, but simply rebuilding the historical layouts and styles. Now I want to make it known that this is not to say that if you can look at design history, you can be the most successful designer by simple duplications. What I am trying to say is that to be successful you have to not only know design history, but understand the basis of why it was created, how to make the same emotions and techniques occur in modern day, and why it evolved in this way.

Currently, many would say we are in a repeat of the 70's and 80's design. Where freeform letterforms, loose illustrations, and the human aspect is a major feature of what for this, we can call mainstream design. We have been moving from the much more flat and super clean design one would expect from the early 2000's where all companies and entities were moving to a simply icon and a preselected san-serif. This was a time where identity meant less then being individual. It was about being a part of the machine, a cog, and not the squeaky wheel. But as the field and media became flooded with tasteless, bland, and repetitive layouts and feelings, the change occurred. Many were pulled back to the time of free love, expression, and the human aspect. Where premade hard and clean san-serifs were removed and in their stead hand-made and human type was brought in. Ones which filled spaces like water in a container, conforming and deforming to be a part of the larger image. Long gone were the days of grids, flat colors, and shades/hues. Back where bright and vibrant colors, gradients and mixing, and imperfection embraced. With this, the next move seems to be that of the 90's. To return to the Xeroxed zines, multi-typeface designs, a corporate dispute between a rebellious movement and the need to speak the truth to the larger population. Raygun's return. Will this be the true next movement, I cannot say, nor am I willing to say that I in anyway am completely the expert in this field. But what I will leave with is, where ever design goes, it will be fueled by ideas and techniques of the past brought up to date to connect times and generations under one idea.