What are the different roles of fashion* and creativity in visual communication design?
Let’s start this discussion by considering the role of creativity in design. Creativity is a word that is used by everyone, everywhere. I just don’t know if people mean the same thing when they say it, or if they have really given thought to its meaning. I picture a client having just declined a unique design approach, holding up an existing example of something else and saying, “You know. Creative like this!”
SO, WHAT IS CREATIVITY THEN?
I think the creativity in design is misunderstood. To me, the act of creative design involves the process of breaking ideas down, or researching their components, and reassembling them in different ways. Taking some things out – leaving others in – reassembling and assessing. We could call this part of the design process synthesis. Fine art’s creative processes may also be synthetic, like design, but with fine art the synthesis is usually not so deliberate, but done in a more explorative way. Design, on the other hand, aims its synthesis toward solving a specific set of problems, so it is usually more strategic.
The creative process, then, is really a form of synthesis, and the creative design process, employs strategic synthesis.
Now, ask yourself about what fashion is. Oxford Dictionaries defines fashion as a “popular or latest style…” or a “manner of doing something”[1]. This suggests fashion is usually something preexisting. And this brings me to reason that creativity and fashion are generally opposites. The creative process synthesizes new things, while fashion follows preexisting manners of expression.
I feel design students need to be aware that fashion influences visual expression, and they need to be sensitive to what is around them, but they shouldn’t overestimate fashion’s contribution. I am sure many designers feel that when they have nailed the fashionable appearance of their design, they’re done. But being fashion-driven is not the end result of a creative process. It is not about synthesizing new answers. It’s certainly not about thought leadership, and it can become visual noise when it is inappropriately used.
THE CLOSEST SHEEP TO THE SHEPHERD
Design practice and design study are about applying and mastering our method of strategic synthesis. Fashion is simply one of many elements within that process, often within the strategic integration of the final design. Being overly fashion-driven is like being the closest sheep to the shepherd – you become the ultimate follower. Fundamentally, fashion gets imposed on a design – working against a design’s uniqueness by bringing it “into the fold”. Creative design seeks to reimagine the design through the process of strategic synthesis, which can yield unique and timeless designs.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying visual design should be boring, or should not look modern, or even fashionable, but simply making it trendy means you haven’t really done the design part yet.
Do you agree? Is much of the visual design you see just trendy – overly fashion-driven?
* In the post, the word fashion is synonymous with trendy visual design styles, and not to be confused with the fashion (garment) industry.
[1] Oxford Dictionaries (2014). Creativity. Retrieved from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com
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