5 Reasons To Not Follow Design Trends

Every year thousands of posts starts to pop up in our feed to explain the newest design trends. And we fell very tempted to follow it. But is that really good for your business?

Don't take me wrong, I'm not saying that trends are a complete disaster. What I'm saying is that they might not be 100% good either. And specially, it might not be the correct answer for YOU.

1. Trends are not made to last

That's seems kind of obvious, but have you actually stop to think about it? If you are creating a brand, a website or any product that is meant to last, don't forget that gradients or glass effect might not be the super hype next year. Specially for logos! Instead, apply it into punctual advertisement and campaigns that in a year will not exist anymore, like trends.

2. Are not budget wise

Following the first topic, if you are short in budget and is investing in a website, for example, try to focus as much as you can in durability — so in 5 years it will not look out of date, and you will not need to expend a lot of money and time again.

3. Trends do not help you to stand out

As a creative designer who is always looking for references and watching carefully what other designers are doing, sometimes I get really exhausted of seeing the exactly same thing everywhere, regardless of the brand. It's important to have a young and trendy approach if that's your audience, but if you look just as everyone else, you will not create an impact.

If you really want to, you can still use some hype elements without loosing your personality on the way. Just be careful!

4. They might not be cohesive to your brand

Brand is the most important thing for a successful business, and it must be cohesive, otherwise your audience will have problems to understand you, and most important, to believe in you. So, for example, if you run a sustainable business and your website is full of heavy 3D elements and complex coding you're not being honest to what you believe (I explained better here how internet can be dangerous to our planet). Remember what your mom used to say: you're not your friends.

5. Ask yourself: Is this design more usable, or simply more on-trend?

Some trends can be really good, but some might just look cool and are not really usable. One of the newest trends is called "ugly design", where basically you have a lot information that does not follow any former guidelines. Honestly, looks very interesting, but if you are applying it to a flyer or landing page where the most important thing is the message, the design will take over and make the real product hard to understand. Instead, you can use it to create a conceptual piece.

Conclusion

Every decision must be taken very carefully. It's easy for all of us to get too exited about new things and forget what really matters: who you are and who your audience is.

Do you agree? Leave a comment and let's chat about it!

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