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June 22, 2005

Bill Gardner on Trends

I was reading this article on Speak Up about Design Clichés [via] and really liked this comment on it by Bill Gardner of LogoLounge.com on how trends take place:

A music critic was on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross some years ago discussing the British Invasion. The conversation referred to the likes of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, The Zombies, The Byrds, you get the idea. The interviewer asked the critic to share what some of his favorite songs from the period were. He said his favorite songs were on the B sides of the records and he shared why. I thought his answer was very perceptive.

All of the bands started using the same formula to craft their music and it didn't take long for a particular formula to reach saturation. At this point the groups would start to look for something fresh and new. Imagine all these artists leaving this saturated cluster and projecting out like orbiting satellites looking for the next big thing. Soon, someone would have a hit and all of the other artists would abandon their little satellite and start to cluster around the new successful formula, and this repeated. The records the critic loved were those made by bands that were searching for the next big thing, right before they abandoned a new style to again become a follower.

I love that story because it reminds me that at some point in time, a trend is not yet a trend. But when someone else accidentally hits on the same idea or when someone emulates something that is not a trend, that is the birth of a trend. And for a period of time, those originators of the trend flourish because they know HOW they arrived and not just why they arrived at their solution.

Posted by timothompson at June 22, 2005 09:59 AM