The end of the year is a time for recapitulation of the past and for the oracles to tell us what will happen in the next twelve months. graphic design is not exempt from this annual liturgy.
illustration: luis echánove
it is said that 2015 has been the year of "flat design", of websites with full-screen background videos or photos or bright pastel colors. for 2016 we are already being told that everything will be extreme attention to typography (this should always be the case), custom illustrations and infographics (weren't they already?) and bright and powerful colors.
when designers bend to fashions, either for mere convenience or to match the taste of audiences, they are doing a disservice to the client, to their work and to themselves. if the logos of all brands were designed according to the criteria of fashion, something as key for them as differentiation would not be achieved. the mere definition of the word fashion speaks of its expiration date and for that reason it would be putting an expiration date on design when brands should have a vocation of maximum permanence.
by no means are following fashion the proper manners of a good designer.