Dead end design trends
I’ve been thinking lately – and don’t have a real answer yet – as to why a design trend sticks, or becomes a relic, or something to be scorned.
Here’s what I mean. At the time this fan was designed, I imagine it was the height of chic.
Now, of course, it looks like the antique it is. Not the emblem of an exciting new era. Who really needed a streamlined fan, anyway?
The same thing applies to color trends. What housewife wouldn’t have been thrilled with this exciting meal preparation unit?
Today, whether it worked or not, it would probably be the first thing you’d toss even if you weren’t redoing your kitchen.
Can you imagine how thrilling it must have been to go to a Buick Dealership in 1959 and check out this snappy four-door sedan?
I actually find it hard to believe you could actually buy cars like that. To paraphrase the old Louis the Hatter commercials, “You’ll be smiling, styling, and profiling, in your new 1959 Buick.” Come to think of it, how did Buick devolve into a brand suitable only for people on their way to the early bird specials in their retirement communities?
Finally, don’t you wish “modern” store design had some of this verve?
That last photo, by the way is from a cool website called Zaragoza Deluxe.
So I have two questions to pose for my dear readers:
1) Are there any current hot design trends you think will end up as design dead ends?
2) Do you wish that some of the exuberance of these designs came back into our products and decor?
6 Responses to “Dead end design trends”
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Posted by Jennifer at Design Hole on February 7th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Doc, as you surmised, it was rhetorical.
Thanks for your brilliant point of view.
Here’s what inspired my post in the first place. When I left the North American International Auto Show this year, I was struck by how little really exciting design was on display. Car design seems to have coalesced around a pretty small set of “rules”.
You’re absolutely right saying that when things are ugly, they’re ugly. But what about when things are efficient, yet boring?
My husband has a streamlined bakelite electric pencil sharpener from the ’30s. Like the fan I used as reference in the blog post, I think it it’s beautiful. No one needs a streamlined pencil sharpener.
Thanks again for taking the time to write. So now, here’s a question for you. Do you miss some of that flamboyance? Are there any current design trends you think will end up as a dead end?
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Posted by trendoffice on February 9th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
I think that this stagger with too much baroque glamour and ornamentation now is reaching the high peak of the pendulum and soon will come back down to a more balanced position when we are going to use the beauty from both trends – the over decoration and minimalistic look from the 20th century.
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Posted by Jennifer at Design Hole on February 10th, 2008 at 2:34 am
That’s an interesting take on things. Why do you think things will move in that direction? Designers typically use references from the past and reinterpret it. Is this what you mean?
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Posted by trendoffice on February 10th, 2008 at 7:06 am
This is a general approach which can serve different aims. What I mean is that our society is getting more and more mature and swings in both directions are not going to extremes. We are ready now to take the best from all the past styles and use it in a more practical and sensible way. Which means that all manifestation of extremes will become dead end design trends.
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Posted by Anonymous on March 6th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Its very simple. Ford invented it. Its called planned obsolescence. The point is that you start to hate your old and “dated” products so that you go out and buy a new one. It worked great for ford, as it sold him many cars, but it is sad that it has become the foundation of how product design works because it is ruining the planet.
I mean haven’t you ever wondered why there are new models released every year even though a car lasts well over ten years? The same reason, to get you to consume.
Its rather sad.
You can’t really look at these objects in isolation, but in the context of what was around a the time a design was made.
(gonna get preachy here :)
Commercial/Industrial design tends to keep making small incremental steps past previous designs. We, as consumers, get used to the previous designs and can make the mental leap to the new,new thing as something we want. Eventually, designs get pushed too far and consumers realize that they are either ugly, or don’t work well.
I rather like that fan design. The oven was from a time period when design had drifted to a bad place and avocado green and shag carpet were requirements. I thought it was ugly then and it is still ugly now. The Buick was the continuation of cars getting flatter, longer, and bigger tails.
You cruise along for a while, the the current style shifts, and you have to wait a while for it, or a variation, to come back around.
One of my strongest memories of elementary school are the Herman Miller/Eames fiberglass chairs. Do i remember what a classic design they were? No, i remember how uncomfortable they were for a 12 year old to sit in for hours. :) It was only later, after they went out of style and I got older, that I cam to better appreciate MCM design.
You know this stuff and I am pretty sure your question was rhetorical, but thems my two cents.
Doc