Design trends (and how consumers have no choice but to like them)
Design trends exist in all industries that require original creative thought. On the web, the 1990s were an explosion of everything moving - marquee scrolling bars, flashing GIF images, “Click here, win a Skoda!” adverts. Today, browse any latest website and you will find (mostly) clear, crisp designs with a generous helping of whitespace. Less is now more.
Television advertising has also adapted to a similar trend in terms of imagery. Many adverts today are “minimalist”, giving the impression that the product “talks for itself” whilst it rests upon a clear glass shelf, with invisible brackets and a white wall in the background. Clear point, clear sale.
But I cannot remember an example that suggests any market force, any consumer demand or input, went any way towards any of these shifts in design preference. I very much doubt any one has wrote to Sony and complained that their adverts on Channel 4 are “too busy”, causing a marketing boardroom meeting.
The truth is this: the design involved in marketing products and services, on the web and beyond, seem to be an open outlet for expression of the marketer’s own creativity, and in no way reflect consumer preference. Do you agree?
Tags: design, Marketing Practice, trends, web