I moved to Paris almost two years ago and there is one major thing that I noticed - the French love diversity! Crazy about it. It's in their blood ....
I noticed straight away that French logos were not very appealing to me, my design tastes ... this is the first thing I noticed (sorry Frenchies!!). Every logo tried to be more colorful, more elaborate, more complex and more different then the next. Creating some of the most (in my opinion) ridiculous and god-awful brandmarks that I've every seen.
But then I realized that this is coming from my American taste for standardization and compliance and my respect for Scandinavian design practices. So now I am split about what I feel is good design and the idea of diversity in design. I ask a French person and they love these logos and say they are more interesting then the American counter-parts. Hmmm ....
Similarly, advertising in the Middle East is very different then the western world. I've looked at it in the past only to think bad design. But, if those billboards were designed in a way that I would think "good" ... would that fly in the Gaza Strip? Would the people think it bad or just strange? Most likely.
So, what of the design principles a communications designer learns in school? Tyography, grid, colors, etc ....
Are these just western standards or inherent principles that all designers must follow? I tend to think that they are and should be standard. They serve a purpose of simplification and communication on a mass level. But I have not come to any final conclusions ... cop-out. sorry ...........
