Oct 7, 2008 4
Anticipatory Designers
I’m starting to realize that there is a large population of graphic designers that only design in preparation. They are knowledgeable about emerging trends, know all the new styles, the new techniques, the new visual language of the design world. They read all the trades, they read all the blogs and they soak it all in, and wait. They wait til they can apply it to their own projects, til they can find a way to make it marketable, til they can use the abundance of the “emerging” style as evidence of being “cutting edge” and “ahead of the curve”. They don’t set trends, they don’t take any chances, they wait.
I am going to coin this anticipatory design. Its the idea of people who watch all the great, experimental, risky design and then wait until its been hashed out across the cusp of the design world. Then they adopt the style, hawking it to clients as if they’re being original. Peddling off others ideas, feeling as if they are being creative and risky.
It’s not imitation, its not copying. Its market research done by others. Its the reason flourished decoration, vector circles, and grunge backgrounds are so popular and rampant in designs today.
What I think is most interesting about this though, is my theory of the origins of the designs. Who are being the most experimental, the most willing to take risks, try things and put them out there for the world to see?
