Style

From Mographwiki.net

Definitions

In reference to design, "style" is the result of noticeable repetition of an identifiable visual solution.

When a specific visual solution is created to suit a particular design project, it may be seen as interesting, enviable, or inspiring... enough so to cause another designer to adopt the same solution for an altogether different project (see Plagiarism). If this solution is applied to a wide enough array of projects, it may be recognized as a trend, at which point it will probably pick up a name, facilitating discussion of it as its own phenomenon, or "style".

Lifetime of a Style

The likely course of a given style is that it begins as an inspiring original work by one or more individuals, which is then copied, to some degree, by others and applied to a variety of projects. As the frequency of its usage grows, it may be identified as a phenomenon and given a label. It may have by then become the default solution for any of a number of designers, who may each treat it in their own slightly idiosyncratic ways. At this point, it's highly likely that the style will have evolved away from the original work just a bit, mostly losing its potency as a conceptual solution to any given design problem, but having gained potency as a signifier of some cultural movement. This may last for some time, with the style fracturing off into subgenres as it continues to evolve and ride a swell of cultural affiliation, while also potentially suffering from overusage. At some point, however, its value as a cultural signifier becomes so widely understood as to entice its usage for unbearably inappropriate projects, usually as a solution by businesses desperate to connect with an audience they no longer understand. When this happens, it's quite likely that the style has been smashed, watered-down, and made to serve the needs of so many messages that it has lost all of its cultural potency and is generally worthless as a mode of inspiration.