It’s surprisingly easy to fall into the trend trap, especially when it seems like everyone else is doing it too. A new design trend emerges, and it seems like everyone on Twitter is talking about it. Then you’re re-designing something that didn’t need to be re-designed, just to fit the current trend. But I ask myself, How do design trends help when you really need clarity?

The Real Work

Let’s be honest with ourselves here. If you’re having trouble understanding who you are and what you want to represent, how will copying the current design trend help you figure it out? your client don’t need to be like everyone else; they need to be clear about who they are. That’s when the real design work begins, strategy is not about looking trendy. It’s about creating clarity. And clarity is what makes a brand or any kind of design really stand out.

Purpose Over Polish

Trends are the easy way out. We get to skip the real work of creating something authentic. Why bother trying to understand the client issues when we can just use what’s popular?

The problem with trends is that we end up creating work that looks like every other piece of work out there. Work that’s been created without any real basis for existence. Work that’s going to have to be reworked the minute the next trend comes along.

Real work is created with understanding. It’s seeing the world as it is and as it should be. It’s making decisions based on real knowledge, not based on what’s going to get the most likes right now.

The Long Game

Clarity is what will stand the long game. When we create something with a real understanding of who the client is, what the real issue is, what’s really important, it’s not going to become irrelevant the minute the next trend appear.

So next time you're tempted to follow a design trend, pause and ask yourself: am I creating something with purpose? because how's a trend going to help explain who they are? So trends are unhelpful, they’re just not efficient.