The Reinterpretation category tracks several trends that comprise one of the most exciting and wide-spread aesthetics moving through the global design community. The basic philosophy involves combining the familiar with the new and unexpected in a way that creates an immediate reaction to the viewer. Whether taking a familiar icon and respinning it into a new context, or bringing a new material to a well-known product, the effect is similar to humor or irony in the mind of the subject. An intense reaction that breaks the mental pathways the human mind is so expert at solidifying, Reinterpretation (when done right) can create strong visual differentiations in tired categories.
There are only so many aspects of an object that designers can influence. Physical objects have proportions, form, surfacing, color, material, finish, detailing, graphics…and that’s about it. Fundamentally, creative professionals today are dealing with the same set of realities that Greek architects or Chinese potters were considering thousands of years...
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In keeping with the Reinterpretation theme’s principle of modifying a single aspect of a design, the Form Reinterpretation trend focuses purely on…FORM! This general stylistic mode seeks to present familiar cultural icons back to the consumer in fresh ways that create both a sense of familiarity and surprise. In these...
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In keeping with the Reinterpretation category, this trend builds on the concept that familiar icons can be refreshed and revitalized by specifically amplifying a single key design attribute. Proportion Reinterpretation explores scaling, stretching, or compressing an object’s proportions. This can be simply scaling the object, stretching it along one of...
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The Reinterpretation category is all about manipulating a single visual attribute to achieve something both familiar and fresh at the same time. In this instance, Material Reinterpretation generally maintains all aspects of an iconic object’s form, proportions, and surfacing, but introduces a completely new material or production process to the...
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In keeping with the Reinterpretation theme, Color Reinterpretation maintains all design elements of the original icon, but alters the color in new and striking ways. Andy Warhol’s Marilyn prints illustrate this effect perfectly: taking the widely and immediately recognized icon of Marilyn’s face, and layering on a cascade of vibrant...
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We are surrounded by a rich terrain of icons, visual metaphors that are immediately recognizable to everyone. Depending on your age, cultural background, or region, we each possesses a unique catalog of icons onto which we load meaning and past experience. Some icons are incredibly powerful, due to their...
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