How I think about visual design trends

Trends are common in visual design. Here’s how I think about them.

There is a trend life-cycle

Visual design trends go through a life-cycle:

A trend is introduced
The trend becomes widely recognised
The trend becomes popular
The trend is used so much it reaches saturation
People start to criticise the trend
People actively avoid the trend in their work
The trend enters a “dormant” state

Once enough time has passed, a trend might be re-introduced, which could start the cycle again.

Many designers copy what’s popular

There are many designers who do not want to think too hard about e.g. visual styles. They look at what is popular in the design community. They design something similar. This is a simple way to design something that people currently like.

Novel design can create trends

If a visual style is novel enough, it can have a big impact when it is introduced. e.g. the designer of the Agora website used painterly trees as background elements. This was well received by designers, and I soon saw it on many other websites.

An evolving personal style can create and avoid trends

One way to both create trends and avoid “saturation” is to become known for a personal style, then slowly evolve it. e.g. James McDonald has always had a recognisable visual style. But if you compare his early work to his latest work, it’s noticeably different. James changes his visual style slowly.

Because his visual design skills are recognisably good, I’ve noticed many designers copy him over the years. He starts trends. But because he slowly evolves his visual style, he’s always one step ahead of the people who copy him.

Some trends should not be copied

Some visual styles fit their context or purpose well. A visual style that suits its purpose and is well-executed usually has a big impact on other designers. It’s hard to ignore a visual style that communicates its purpose clearly.

People often copy these visual styles because they’re popular. But the visual style was good because it suited its context well. It likely won’t work in other contexts. You should not copy these visual design trends.

There are also visual styles that suit many contexts well. I think these are the ones that are copied the most, because they work in the most places.

Some trends start and end in the community

Some novel or interesting visual styles become popular, but never make it to “commercial” interfaces. e.g. you might see designers share examples of the visual style with each other. But you will ~never see a mobile app or commercial website use the style. The trend is born and dies within the design community. Probably these trends rely on their novelty, and aren’t practically useful.