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Changing Aesthetics
The world seems smaller, consumers
are more cultured, everyone is connected—and
designers are listening.
By Jennifer Grover Prokopy
 Some
trends are fleeting, in one month and out the
next. Others stand the test of time, leaving a
lasting imprint on our environment. Every day,
designers make aesthetic decisions that balance
the momentary desires of clients and the lasting
needs of society.
To make choices that leave
a mark, leaders look to a spectrum of indicators
and influences for ideas that raise the bar: fashion,
economics, technology, nature, politics, travel
and entertainment. More than ever, designers find
that clients know what they want and aren’t
afraid to ask for it.
Technological Backlash
You can’t walk a block today without hearing
a cell phone ring, and remote controls exist for
every function you can imagine. In reaction, design
will step back from technology, turning instead
to simpler, soothing surroundings without visible
electronics.
“There is an overwhelming
use of technology in environments today,”
says Dan Menchions, IIDA, ARIDO, Principal Partner
in II By IV Design Associates Inc., Toronto. To
balance this overload, he’s concertedly trying
to create more low-tech environments for people.
(II By IV’s SEVEN project was one of eight
to win an award in IIDA’s 30th Annual Interior
Design Competition.)
The move toward simplicity
will happen most in public spaces, he says, where
consumers are fed up with impersonality. “We’re
going to go back to more of a service industry
on a one-to-one basis, and that will definitely
affect design,” Menchions says. Intimate
scales, transparent materials, open spaces and
flexible furnishings are encouraging personal
dialogue and interaction in restaurants, clubs
and entertainment spots.
While some are fed up with
technology’s pervasive and impersonal influence,
there are others who want to abandon its emotionless
aesthetic without losing its functionality. One
place where technology will remain strong but
cease to enforce its cool, hard edges is in home
design, says Los Angeles-based designer Mark Cutler.
“It wasn’t that
long ago that a client requested we manufacture
a series of black boxes with flashing lights so
that his friends would be really impressed by
the media equipment that he had,” Cutler
says. “This trend seems to have been replaced
by one where people still want all the technology,
but want it hidden completely out of sight, so
it’s now completely transparent but more
powerful than ever.”
Ian Cummings, proprietor
and design consultant for Kensington Interiors,
Brighton, U.K., sees the same trend in his residential
work in the U.K. and continental Europe. In recent
years, his clients have focused their energy on
refurbishing older homes, including modern standards.
“They want the best of both worlds,”
Cummings says. “They want all the latest
technology, but they want it in an early 19th
century country house, (and) they want it out
of sight.”
Allen Ferrell, President
of the international Color Marketing Group (CMG)
and Manager
of Color, Style and Market Trends at NorthPole
USA, sees the same trend coming to pass most aggressively
in the housewares and furniture industry, where
consumers “want the look and feel of things
of the past, but want new technology built into
it.” The soothing familiarity of retro designs
has its attractions for consumers who yearn for
simpler low-tech times, Ferrell says.
Familiar Territory
Some designers see an altogether different—and
positive—influence of technology on their
work. Diego Burdi, IIDA, ARIDO, Creative Partner
at Toronto-based burdifilek, says technology has
broken down barriers between the firm and its
clients. (The firm also won a 30th Annual Interior
Design Competition award for the Tip Top Lofts
Sales Centre in Toronto.)
Innovations in communication
“enable us to design in such a way that a
client can really visualize what we’re bringing
to the table,” Burdi says.
“There’s a strong
bridge that makes potential clients a lot more
comfortable, because they can see what can be.”
The result, he says, is that clients are more
knowledgeable and quicker to assert themselves
in the design process: “In general people
are looking for more aesthetic value.” Clients
are armed with more resources and are increasingly
open to exploring more creative possibilities
to fit their particular needs.
In the residential realm,
consumers have made a giant leap in design education;
professionals agree that a glut of home and garden
television programs is exerting a monumental influence
in the United Kingdom and North America. “Today’s
society is a lot more design-aware,” Burdi
says, “and designers will be challenged in
the future to create a more unique palette than
you see today.”
Think Global, Act Local
With global communication channels widening, designers
and consumers are more aware of design standards,
says Bryce G. Rutter, Ph.D., DMI, IDSA, founder
and CEO of Metaphase Design Group in St. Louis,
Mo. “Consumers are increasingly smarter about
what real, good design is,” Rutter says,
and in turn, they judge their environment by a
global standard that designers must acknowledge.
Burdi hopes exposure to
new cultures will spice up worldwide design and
views of beauty. In his view, “there’s
been a bit of a wash globally,” a sameness
of design from country to country. “I remember
going to Europe or the Far East 10 years ago and
being awe-inspired,” he says.
However, on a trip to Europe
a few months ago, Burdi noticed a shift toward
bland uniformity in some public spaces, particularly
in airports. “You get off the plane ... and
you’re dropped into a mini-mall and you have
to wonder where you are,” he says. This foretells
a backlash against the homogeny and a return to
the roots of local design in many countries.
Cities like Toronto, Menchions
says, are reacting in a different way to globalization—by
embracing “design on every street corner,”
he says. “Toronto is such an international
city, with a very eclectic design style”
that he feels will spread to other parts of the
globe.
The formation of the “Euro
zone,” the inexpensive air travel in Europe
and the upcoming enlargement of the European Union,
says Cummings, make it easier for designers to
travel within Europe and work for clients in different
countries, exposing many more consumers to design
influences from across Europe. “It’s
having a big effect, bringing in the possibilities
of many new colors and textures, fabrics and furnishings
from all over the world,” he says. “The
increased exposure to new design approaches is
a growing influence.”
Comfort Zone
In the United States, people are working harder
than ever—and have been rewarded with an
economic slump that allows them little opportunity
for relaxation or vacation. At home, cell phones,
the Internet and cable TV keep consumers wired
in to a 24-hour news feed. It’s no wonder
that designers are seeing that clients’ behavior
is in a trend toward “nesting,” a return
to calming tones and casual environments, spaces
where frazzled minds and bodies can escape and
unwind. “I have noticed this trend manifesting
itself in simpler, more comfortable and less ostentatious
design requests, homes that act as havens rather
than vehicles to impress,” Cutler says.
Liza Robinson Vidal, Vice
President of U.S. operations for Bali-based Warisan,
says consumers are looking for styles that contribute
to the creation of nurturing environments that
will last. “Because they are nesting, high-style
designs that are not comfortable are out,”
Vidal says. “Consumers are looking at style
as something that will last beyond next year’s
fad. There is a return to substantial, natural
materials and simple designs that are satisfying
to consumers’ ideas of value and beauty.”
But nesting is a uniquely
American trend, according to Burdi. When it comes
to other countries, he says, “I don’t
think what’s happened in the last few years
has affected design; I think everybody is just
trying to put their best foot forward.”
While the 9/11 attacks put
a momentary damper on the world, he says most
countries snapped back quickly: “We all froze
for a few months. But then, clients said, ‘Life
goes on, we have to move forward.’”
While home style in the
United States is leaning toward the personal retreat,
that doesn’t mean the nation is taking a
timeout—design still moves forward. Burdi
is amazed, for example, at the tenacity of U.S.
retailers, who are using cost-effective tools
like color and texture to keep design fresh on
a budget: “The energy level is quite phenomenal.
Although there are struggles right now, retailers
are being a lot more innovative with a lot less
to work with and still keeping consumers’
interest.”
The Generation Gap
Design for all generations will come of age in
the coming years, according to Jim Mueller, Chair
of the Industrial Designers Society of America’s
Universal Design Special Interest Section. In
the United States, aging baby boomers are driving
a trend toward more accommodating spaces. Design
for this audience must satisfy real-world needs,
Mueller says, while accommodating what he views
as “traditional senses of beauty and value”
that embrace a simple, clean aesthetic.
“Baby boomers are dealing
with long-foreseen demands on their resources
that are even greater than most have planned for,”
Mueller says. “Their savings for retirement
have been decimated by national economic factors.”
In reaction, this generation “will work longer
into their lifespans, increasing the emphasis
on ergonomics for aging workers in workplace design,
especially equipment and furniture.”
“At the same time,
design in the home will emphasize reinforcing
functional independence of elders seeking to ‘age
in place’ for as long as possible,”
Mueller says. “This will boost interest in
universal design in architecture, interiors, appliances,
furniture and fixtures.”
This same trend is affecting
design in Europe, where Cummings says his clients
are placing a greater value on design ideas that
will last for many years. “Natural, muted,
easy-to-live-with colors are very popular”
for creating spaces that provide lasting comfort,
he says. “Life is getting more and more demanding
… and people are looking for a place they
can relax. Our client base is aging a bit, and
they want something that’s easier to live
with and will stay looking good for 10 years.”
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