What happened to music genres is happening to design styles…

Howdy, I’m Tatum with a “Hot Take” on design styles

I’m sure everyone remembers the vagueness around the term “indie” and whatever the hell that meant. There were lots of strong opinions about the idea surrounding that kind of music, lifestyle, and look…With that boom of interest in the early 2010’s, music genres started getting extremely specific, and design styles seem to be trending in a similar way.

I feel that during the early 2010’s, everyone was having more opinions on categorization and what elements specifically defined music to be labeled into different genres. Ultimately categorization can become subjective. Up for interpretation. We all saw music getting more specific, and with platforms like Spotify, we now know that bubblegum electro dream pop is a genre. (Side note, I don’t actually know this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was an existing genre.)

The specificity of design styles and categorization is more or less following the music industry in my opinion! I don’t think that is a bad thing. It could very well mean that we are too close to what is changing and evolving rapidly in the industry. Decades down the road our specific conglomeration of categorization in design styles may be narrowed down to something more broad and encompassing.

For someone who likes labels to help narrow down, having several different design styles married under one umbrella term may feel stressful. Because can it really be bohemian when the furniture has clean modern lines and velvety textures? That’s rhetorical…but since this is a hot take, I’ll give my honest answer that is just a thought provoking opinion.

I love broad labels to help give me a starting point when approaching visual design aesthetic. Broad labels such as modern glam, contemporary, transitional, traditional, mountain modern, etc. These broad labels are a great starting point. I think most any designer can agree that exploring creativity and pushing boundaries is far more exciting than adopting a style to a tee. For the most part, you can categorize good designs into a number of broad label categories. However, where I have fun the most is with fusing different design styles together. This is where you get the specific genre labels that Spotify has helped us become aware of. Modern scandi boho glam, the design has elements from all of these styles, do you really need to string them together? Is it midcentury modern or hollywood regency…or both?? Who truly cares. At the end of the day, a good design will come together broad label or specific label aside.

NOW. For another strong opinion here…maximalism and minimalism are not design styles on their own. Rather elements you can incorporate into different designs. I like to lean more towards maximalism, and believe me when I say, I can make a modern clean line design concept adopt maximalism just like I can make it minimalist. The art of maximalism and minimalism are the characteristics of these methodologies. Maxmilasim can be achieved with bold color schemes, saturated color, pattern play, finishes on the ceiling, carefully placed clutter…these are all elements you can bring to any design style you want, it’s not just resevered for one specifically.

This leads me straight into yet another strong opinon. Eclectic is also not a specific style. I like to think eclectic as a design style that features really strong motifs and elements from many different design styles that you can’t truly broad label it other than call it eclectic. To me, an eclectic design can vary vastly in appearance, and doesn’t necessarily have a specific look! It’s almost like maximalism and minimalism in that there are elements that can make a design appear eclectic, but I would say you can bring together 10 different design styles in a room, and the same design styles in another room and it will look completely different in each room, yet both rooms you may have a hard time discerning a broad label category for.

At the end of the day, broad labels are a great starting point for inspiration. Getting specific with how you want to label design based on design choices you make is entirely up to you. I love having fun with design, I love bringing together inspiration from many different styles. Don’t stress about the label, and stress about whether you’ve achieved a cohesive look that meets your client’s wants and needs!