There’s always an eternal struggle for people who make a profession in creative design, between what our clients think they want and your own instincts when it comes to layout, colour, and graphics. It’s a constant worry for many design professionals that our creative instincts and sensibilities are getting a little stale, left behind as the younger generation defines what’s ‛cool’ and interesting. No one wants to be the designer still using techniques from a decade ago, plodding along in a safe and boring way.
Unfortunately, many designers overcompensate for this by chasing trends and following the ‘Rule of Cool’ wherein they take any hot design trend and toss it in just so they can seem hip and modern. But the ‘Rule of Cool’ can be terrible for creative design – even if your clients tend to respond well to it initially.
The Rule of Cool and Creative Design: Not Creative at All
You probably got into this career because you wanted to be creative. You wanted to take the world as it was and make it more attractive, easier to work with, more intuitive. You have a singular vision and style – that’s what sets you and your Creative Design work apart. Sure, it’s not for everyone, but you don’t need everyone. You just need enough people to appreciate and understand your style and sensibility to earn a living.
The Rule of Cool takes design decisions out of your hands and gives them to the Crowd. The Crowd sometimes has inspiration, but it’s also a slavish mindset – things become cool because everyone thinks so. It’s circular and ultimately doesn’t mean anything. Bottom line: The Rule of Cool makes your designs look like everyone else’s.
The Rule of Cool and Creative Design: Kludging it Into Place
While being wildly creative is fun and inspiring, all professionals know the other half of the process is taking your ideas and making them work in a real-world way within your design. That means that your design has to function, to deliver the information and experience it’s supposed to deliver.
Following the Rule of Cool might make your design look hip and trendy for the moment, but it often means ‛kludging’ elements into place that don’t really fit, damaging the flow and function of your design. Your role is to create things that please the eye while functioning as intended. Never let the Rule of Cool ruin that, or your career will be shorter than you think.
The Rule of Cool and Creative Design: Classic is Classic for a Reason
The idea that ‘everything old is worthless’ is a dangerous and silly one. There is, after all, a reason that classic design elements become classic: They work. They work well, they work while being attractive, and they work in a variety of ways and modes. Good creative design doesn’t simply discard decades of previous work and decide that anything older than last year is worthless and played out. Good design work considers all tools and chooses the ones that work best.
That also doesn’t mean you have to wait out every trend and new idea until it ripens and becomes classic. If a new idea fits in your design, inspires you, or otherwise ‛works’ there’s no reason to automatically dismiss it – but there’s also no reason to automatically use something just because the unseen crowd has dubbed it ‛cool’.
– Artwork Abode
