We have recently been taking a look at trends, not only in design but across the board in media and branding strategy. Pandora, (www.pandora.com) the ‘create your own radio station’ site, comes to mind immediately as a shining example of efficiency and simplicity. Mind you, simple on the front end, not behind the scenes where someone attached characteristics to thousands of songs after listening to each one. So, making note here, they spent time and much forethought on the back end before creating something that seems seamless and simple. You go to the site, type in one name and it creates your play list in a clean, visually-pleasing screen with no fuss or confusion. It is just efficient and I’m hooked already.
Bill Gardner writing for Logolounge.com on the trends in ’08 logo designs highlights several styles and points out, “There’s an overall move toward cleanliness – in type, in line, in color – as if ideas are getting more and more succinct. It may be an indication of the degree of seriousness with which branding is now regarded. And less is more common: less calligraphy, less Photoshop tricks, less artificial highlights.” (Read more at http://www.logolounge.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=607 )
So it seems, we move toward simple. It used to be that with the onslaught of cool Photoshop tricks it was trendy to “throw all you’ve got at it” and create something complex and intricate above all, just because you could. Though getting back to basics is not rocket science, really, who doesn’t want the acclaim of a simple swoosh, the recall factor of a golden ‘M’ or the punch factor of a little white apple. The iconic brands did not get there overnight or by chance, but they did build an empire with a simple logo. Perhaps in your design strategies this year – for logo, email, blogs, web site – think simple, think clean.
