The Changing Tides of Creative Trends
Danielle Evans / WNW Member
The Internet is like the ocean, a vast sea churning with new ideas. Trends are the tireless currents we ride on boards of our craft. Those of us working online paddle out tirelessly, searching for the perfect wave to ride. How do we spot trends, the ones that transport us to the greatest interpretation of our work? They’re easy if you know where and how to look. Trends are cyclical, therefore predictable.
For a skill to trend, it requires two things: a low barrier to entry and an abundance of free education. In my world, the rise of process videos on social media and the popularity of brush pens brought lettering back into design’s focus. Nibs and quills felt too complicated for the average user, but everyone had access to a pencil. Skillshare and Instagram videos made it possible for students to follow at their own pace in the privacy of their homes.
“How do we spot trends, the ones that transport us to the greatest interpretation of our work? They’re easy if you know where and how to look. Trends are cyclical, therefore predictable.”
Trends are propelled by technology. Technology is the march of progress, the gateway to a different future. Tech looks different and presents itself in different markets across history, but it is almost always flanked by fashion. Fashion is tech made accessible to the everyday person. Just ask the Apple watch or fit bit. Futuristic movies push our imaginations but the style grips us. We may not be ready for floating hoverboards, but we can get behind inventive body wear.
If this idea feels a little foreign, know ”technology” to us would seem comparatively primitive. The rise of Lapis Lazuli during the Renaissance was serious tech, the brightest form of blue pigment ever created. While the art world was going nuts acquiring this hot new hue, textile merchants experimented with dying. Artists were imagining their subjects in this color; why couldn’t the rich and fashionable make it a reality? Most people can justify hipness through copping a piece of clothing. Once we literally embody an idea, a trend expresses itself through visual art, music, and film. We put sound and vision to what this potential future could hold.
How do we know when an idea has cycled and begun its decline?
Again, there are two tells: market saturation coupled with recycled ideas. The health of a market depends on the variety of output. Motivational quotes produced on a tablet is a common way to participate in the lettering industry. I personally find the most interesting work in this industry stems from adapting concepts and techniques from other industries. Food, athletics, fashion, history, tech, and music industries not only need visual communication but enhance a lettering message. More importantly, adapting these industries to lettering pools audience members. Those that feed the market are rarely participating at a professional level, much like people feeding fish in a pond.
“When the work at large become both predictable and esoteric, the audience loses interest. The work is no longer digestible or whetting the appetite and descends into a trope where it will live on in its simplest form as a fad. From here, the audience will triangulate elsewhere.”
If a market becomes self-serving, it also becomes placid. When an industry falls victim to self-reference and social climbing, it loses the interest of the silently observant masses. Experimentation and crossbreeding generate evolution. The more an industry adapts, the more likely it is to grow. When the work at large become both predictable and esoteric, the audience loses interest. The work is no longer digestible or whetting the appetite and descends into a trope where it will live on in its simplest form as a fad. From here, the audience will triangulate elsewhere.
Trends cycle faster in the digital landscape than they have in real life, and there is no definitive way to fad-proof an industry. We can take comfort in knowing trends are simplified concepts, and our complexities as creators will ensure we catch multiple waves throughout our careers. We can scan the horizon, actively watching for movement, but when it feels right, we know. And we begin paddling.
WNW Member Danielle Evans is an art director, lettering artist, speaker, and dimensional typographer. She’s worked with the likes of Disney, Target, the Guardian, PWC, (RED), McDonald’s, Aria, Condé Nast, Cadillac, and would love to work with you. Subscribe to her newsletter here.
Header Illustration by WNW Member Murphy Phelan