by Jessica Bourn
While pondering my options for this blog post, I found myself thinking of only the frustrations I deal with on a daily basis. I considered a brief but honest rant about phrases that designers deal with on the reg that make us want to rip our hair out- “can you make that logo bigger?”, “let’s fill that empty space”, “can’t you just make it look better?”- just to name a few. I also considered a rousing one-sided debate about whether or not graphic designers should be proficient at drawing in order to be an effective designer. However, I feel that too many platforms are full of negativity right now- from morbid stories on the news to angry politics, there are plenty of people ranting on topics they feel passionately about. This rambling intro is all to say that I want to spread a little positivity today!
There are plenty of trends floating around the internet right now- it’s the era of selfies, memes, and makeup tutorials. Millions of people around the world are consuming social media at an unprecedented rate. This rate is only surpassed by the rate at which people are putting out content to be consumed. When it comes to things like gamers streaming their video games and tweens dancing to pop songs, it seems like there is a never-ending line of people ready to criticize or dismiss these ventures as a waste of time.
So my question to you is this- can something that brings joy to even a few people really be considered a waste of time? The world is so dark sometimes, why begrudge anyone the opportunity to smile?
I’m here to encourage everyone to take a moment and think about how blessed we are to have this kind of creative freedom! Whether you are the producer or the consumer, the world is swimming in creativity right now. So the next time you see a silly internet trend going around, remind yourself that these are people enjoying the freedom that the internet grants them. I do want to acknowledge the platitudes- “with great power comes great responsibility”, “we are part of something bigger than ourselves”, all that good stuff. I recognize that bad things come from this freedom just as much as good things. I’m just here to encourage a little less negativity, a little more go-with-the-flow attitude when it comes to trends that bring happiness.
In retrospect, I think I missed my goal of not ranting in this blog post- but I leave with no regrets! Stay trendy, internet.
