A Decade of Design
A New Horizon
2020 is less than one week away. As you look forward to the next decade and the challenges, transitions, and adventures it will bring, we all naturally find ourselves reflecting on the past. In anticipation of the coming decade of creativity, we wanted to take this opportunity to highlight ways the 2010s influenced marketing and evolved the world of design.
The 2010s brought us the internet that is accessible from everywhere, the cloud grew in popularity, and mobile devices became more versatile and an essential part of everyday life. Even though we do not have flying cars and futuristic chrome robots in our homes -- like the 80s’ sci-fi movies suggested -- we now utilize technology far beyond Marty McFly’s wildest dreams. Technology that is at our fingertips every single day. Even kindergarteners carry around iPhones and schools require students to own computers or iPads. Access to this technology at such a young age is transforming a new generation of designers and visionaries.
The World Wide Web
It seemed like a daunting, expensive, and time-consuming task back in the 90s and early 2000s. Professionals charged steep prices to build even the most basic skeletons. Many businesses knew they needed this element, but had no idea how to utilize them.
What are we talking about? Websites, of course.
In the early 2000s, it cost thousands of dollars to build a functional website. This deterred many small businesses from taking on such an enormous cost and, subsequently, struggled to spread the word about their products and services. By 2010, that was quickly changing. The business of web development was becoming more popular and easier to utilize than ever. Sites like Squarespace and Wordpress exploded into popularity, making the myth of a sleek and informative website a reality for almost every business. Students create websites free-of-charge for class assignments; individuals can write their own blog for little to no cost; and promoting a brand’s products has become more efficient and cost-effective than ever. Websites have become the instinctive platform to spread ideas, post photos, and interact on a personal level with other human beings across the globe. As a result, website design erupted, overnight, into a massive industry. No business is complete today without a website, even though ten years ago, many would have been unaware of the possibility of marketing online.
Manageable Marketing
A brand is worthless if it is unable to market its products to consumers. Marketing has morphed into an increasingly hands-on and cost-effective endeavor over the past decade. Commercials and advertisements have become larger-than-life and are now produced as if they are feature-length films. Social media has taken off in a way no one could have anticipated, and brands without social accounts are slipping away into obscurity. The platform of social media has revolutionized the past decade, and in turn, galvanized marketing. Thanks to the 2010s, the challenge is no longer how to get your products in front of consumers -- that part is easy. The challenge is how to catch consumers’ interest and fashion them into loyal customers. New generations mean new marketing strategies (you can read about marketing to millennials here) and the next decade is sure to bestow an abundance of unique marketing challenges.
Designing a Decade
Visionaries have been presented with an abundance of opportunity ever since 2010, and we are certain the coming decade will in no way disappoint. The possibilities are endless thanks to the design technology that has been refined over the past decade. Graphic design was once a limited profession, but now has tenure at accredited colleges and universities. Industrial design expanded in leaps and bounds thanks, in great part, to the advancement of technology in the past decade, and translating dream products into reality is more possible than ever thanks to the knowledge industrial designers bring to the table. Sustainability has become a main focus, and we now design with the planet in mind. Academia is starting to recognize the effect of creativity on education, and companies are hiring individuals who can think outside the box and divise fresh ideas.
The coming decagon will certainly bring even greater advancements to design than have been seen in the 2010s. Contemporary creative-professionals are being educated each day, even at very early ages. Advanced, life-changing inventions are just around the corner. And who knows - maybe in the next decade recap we will be writing about how the design of the flying car changed the 2020s forever.
