I posted this as an artist's introduction within the Design group. I'd like to share it with those who dare venture into my profile. Please leave your thoughts, even if you're not sure what the hell it is a 'graphic artist' really does for a living...
I'm a 1997 graduate of the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design. I've been fascinated with the idea of design since a child, before I even new what 'design' was as a concept. One of my first revelations towards the very notion of design is that it moved in cyclical waves.
The 1950's aesthetic was hip in the 70's (Grease, Happy Days). Later part of the 80's saw an interest in the Woodstock generation. We watched the 90's/00's relaunch the granola-plaid Earth-Mother look from which the 'trucker hat' phenomenon grew out of...
Are we hitting a wall now?
I lived in LA from 2003-2005. I watch the emergence of what was/is called Maximalism. One color silhouettes... birds, flowers, trees rooted in the ground and branching out into the horizon. The intersection of the rural suburban 'easy-living' look, then meshed together as it hits the city and gets layered over by fits of spray-can tagging. It boggled my imagination to see this style develop. Victorian wallpaper clobbered by Hip-Hop. I wasn't even sure if 'Maximalism' was the right term. Maybe simply 'Town and Country' on acid.
What trips me up right now is that we are on the cusp of transformation. Yet this trend in graphic design seems to become more entrenched. Will this look simply implode? Or will the design critiques of the next decade look back on this aesthetic as the embodiment of the chaos we've all experienced since 911-Afghanistan-Iraq-Katrina-London-bailout-recession..?
Is face value simplicity the new wave and can we do this without using Helvetica as a stylistic crutch?
♥