Say what you will about the economy being in the tank but i say that design will flourish during 2009. There are a few things that lead me to this conclusion.

First of all, color has come back in style. With the 80’s back in style for a little while now, we will now see a muted 80’s style that steps away from the florescence colors but leaves us with a heavy use of color. Use of a broader color palette will also happen due to the fact that more marketers will try even harder to get the ever-needed attention of a audience that may be less apt to spend any money. 

Secondly, since the economy is the way that it is, designers and marketers must be more creative in how how they develop marketing initiatives. I personally think that this is a very good litmus test for designers. If they can still create effective design within a market that is generally apprehensive, then they are thinking outside of the box of normalcy and are moving our industry in the right direction.

Lastly, with a bad economy, some design will inevitably get worse due to organizations’ budgets tightening or disappearing altogether. While some organizations choose that direction, others will realize that potential that this means within their market. If your competition is not presenting themselves well via ads, web or design, then it goes to follow that you will stand out if you do make that effort. A good example of how this works is currently within the fast food industry. Arby’s has recently gone cheap on some really poor-quality commercials without much direction while Wendy’s has stepped it up considerably with commercials and, more importantly, creative direction. There is no doubt that Wendy’s has taken some market share from Arby’s.

So, in 2009, i think that we will see design flourish with broad use of color and with creative ideas that will propel some companies to the forefront while their competition is caught sleeping. 

-jeremy

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 at 5:17 pm and is filed under ad, marketing, messaging, print, television, tip, web. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.