Debate - Design Is Dead!

The simple fact is that this idea of increased choice is an illusion. Yes, there is definitely more to choose from in terms of number of channels, magazines, and Web pages; however, your choice is controlled and disseminated by fewer people or companies each day. For these companies to stay in business, they must restrict and control innovation for the sake of their corporate image; it's all about fostering familiarity with their brand, or logo (read Naomi Klein's No Logo for more info).

When was the last time you saw the Nike Swoosh and the Golden Arches "overhauled"? Why are these symbols referred to as proper nouns and instantly trigger recognition in our heads? Why do all the news channels and shows all sound and look the same? And why, for that matter, do our papers? Individual control and expression has been more or less eliminated in all forms of mass media. It's been replaced by a large corporate hegemony which believes that, in order to survive in today's market place, you need to brand, brand, brand, stamp your logo everywhere, and control everything about the use of your image. To not do so is corporate suicide.

The result is that people, whether they are shopping at WalMart, going to see a movie at a multi-plex, consuming fast food, or surfing the Web, now need to feel comfortable in a common and well known environment. They've grown used to the familiar, and indeed now demand it. It's obvious that innovative design doesn't lend itself to the communication of the feelings of familiarity required to coddle existing consumers, and entice new ones.

So what are we left with? I'll admit there are some pretty cool "out there" design concepts on the Web. However, haven't you noticed that even these sites basically look and feel the same? Most aredone in Flash with "funky navigation" and "cool fades" and "pre-loaders" and ... hey, this is starting to sound familiar. Even the so-called "cutting edge" sites still "play by the rules".

But this is a good thing -- and something I wish more designers would acknowledge. That is: there needs to be a core element of sameness to any creation for it to be of "use" to anyone outside the individual author, artist, or Web developer. People are not only influenced stylistically by what has come before, but by what has "worked" before. Almost every day, clients come to me and say in their first breath that they want a "new" design to suit their "individual" need. And in their next, they say they want "something that looks like my competitor", or "that looks like Company X" etc.

So, is true creative design alive? No. But then, it never really was... well, maybe for a brief moment when Grog painted that first antelope on his cave wall. But, since then, it has been a matter of constant re-interpretation of what has come before, in order to best convey a commonly understood meaning to a group of people in an efficient manner.

From a "cookie cutter" Website, to a form of "radical shock art", designers and artists play by a set of rules and patterns to elicit their desired response from a target audience. And the fact that we are now faced with actually fewer avenues of innovation due to the conglomeration of media companies only further proves this point. Design is indeed dead.

Don't stop there! Find out why Design Is Not Dead!, and decide for yourself which opinion you support!