Letting dreamers dream and the rejection of minimalism – design in the age of late-stage capitalism11/29/2021 ![]() Marco Riosa, BA Illustration & Visual Media As an Illustration student currently taking some of my sandwich year in a small micro mobility start-up, I’ve quickly become very familiar with some of the corporate design demands of today. It’s clear enough that most start-up’s want, or rather need, cheap and fast design solutions with maximum impact for their rapidly expanding needs. What isn’t as immediately obvious is the effect this kind of model has on innovation and design trends. As designers, we all know and perhaps quietly adhere to the famous triangle of quality– good/cheap/fast. The client can have fast and good, sure, but it’ll cost. Or they can have it cheap and fast, but it won’t look great. Good and cheap? It’ll take time. Time, clearly, is the necessary concession made by the collective corporate group think, as the modern start up has to be increasingly lean. Work smart, not hard- the consensus seems to be – it’s certainly something I’ve heard repeated several times in my role already. So, if time has gotten the chop – what does that mean for design trends? It appears that the collective design community has decided that the easiest way to design something that appears finished is to strip every unnecessary detail back. Minimalism? No thanks, we want it all. Increasingly being recognised as a genre in its own right, “Corporate Memphis” is the term the community seems to have settled on. Entirely emblematic of the modern age of increasingly tight deadlines, the modern commercial artist has had to settle for flat, often faceless beings. Of course, the style has had to keep up with the demands of today – so the faceless beings have been either diversified or have been simply removed of all realistic skin-tone to avoid any engagement in the diversity debate at all. However, it’s not all doom and homogenous gloom. Recently, there has been emergence of a new ‘style’, one likely developed in the spare time of energy sapped designers. Unsurprisingly, it’s a complete rejection of Corporate Memphis, and an embrace of maximalism. It seems that, in being denied the luxuries of time in the designer’s day to day work, we have begun to crave detail. Minimalism? No thanks, we want it all. It’s easy to see why maximalist design has become such a hit. According to data from the Federal Reserve in the US, millennials have been shown to be the poorest generation in history. In the midst of a rental crisis, we are forced to pay ludicrous amounts of money simply to have a roof over our head, and not even one we own. Our lives as designers are increasingly precarious and limited. In reality, we know that we cannot have it all. As designers and artists, we are quite literally paid to be dreamers. We create the visual language of the future, shaping the ideals of what people want to see. The natural response to “fast and cheap” as a dreamer deprived of luxury is “slow and good” – because it’s our work. This is for us. And we do want it all, because we are denied it. There will always be an alternative, non-critical interpretation of why maximalism is popular- but the answer is clearly in front of all us. Late-stage capitalism has rendered us physically and mentally poor, starved of the luxuries of time and room to creatively breathe – and tired from long, relentless work. So, we dream. We dream that we have all the time in the world, the budget to go all-out and achieve the high quality, innovative artwork we desire to see. In essence, we complete the “impossible” triangle for ourselves, because we’ve been denied it for so long.
3 Comments
sarah temple
1/7/2022 03:14:55 am
Insightful jump from homogenous brand guidelines Marco to more satisfying 'slow'-design processes/solutions which would re-consolidate the professional role of design, address time poverty and stabalize the precarious nature of the design process and avoid exploitation? https://www.slowmovement.com in travel, food, music...https://precariousworkersbrigade.tumblr.com/TrainingForExploitation
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Robert Urquhart
1/7/2022 12:32:43 pm
Like the poetic writing style! You say 'We create the visual language of the future, shaping the ideals of what people want to see. The natural response to “fast and cheap” as a dreamer deprived of luxury is “slow and good” – because it’s our work. This is for us. And we do want it all, because we are denied it' - I wonder how you feel 'you are denied it' - fast and cheap is not the way forward so keep striving, not for luxury perhaps, but for quality! thanks for sharing
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Marco
3/11/2022 08:04:42 am
Hi Robert & Sarah-
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