We need a term for the visual period we’re living in. There’s a definite style emerging, something we’ll recognise when it’s past (and possibly roll our eyes at, but hopefully not), but we don’t have a name for it.
Whatever the over-arching theme is, it has something to do with birds. (Owls and sparrow-y-type things seem to be most popular.)
Like this template for Apple’s Pages word-processor.
…the Twitter logo…
…every other thing for sale on Etsy…
…and shop signage.
Hand-lettered fonts and graphics are everywhere, too, like in the posters for Juno and Away We Go (both of which feature pregnancy; hmm).
I’m not complaining. I like the look of these things, because they look like people made them. In fact, I just redesigned this website ’cause I realised its main design message seemed to be “Look, Hame got a Mac!” I make books by hand, so I figured the site should reflect that hand-made experience better, so I changed it, the main difference being that all the if-you-buy-Mac-software-you’ve-seen-them buttons changed to hand-lettered text (based on the Dr Strangelove titles, actually).
DIY culture is on the rise, and this aesthetic just helps make it look approachable and fun. Is this a movement a response to the glut of consumption foisted on us, that we’re not only sick of but whose consequences we’re now legitimately afraid of?
A few years ago, a Finnish design student named Ulla-Maaria Mutanen beautifully articulated the attractions and benefits of this movement in her Draft Craft Manifesto.
Whatever the motivation, I love that people are hungry for a culture other real people have made, and they’re allowed to make, too.
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