Is design’s popularity detrimental to the discipline?

Design in recent years has become more and more present in popular culture. This has elevated the study’s perception to a superstar status. But does an increase in stylistic popularity water down the field’s effectiveness? Studying graphic design in particular has become commonplace in America, and alongside that perception a growingly homogenous idea of what the study is has been manifested. This is in part due to its current status as being “cool.” What happens when something becomes cool? In his 2007 publication, The Etymology of Design: Pre-Socratic Perspective, Kostas Terzidis argued that “‘coolness,’ fashion, style, the unapologetically fashionable, desirable, and ephemeral are not about the new, but instead are deceptive, obfuscating methods of establishing and authority on art, architecture and design without offering the means to truly lead towards novelty.” This implies that the trendy nature of current design inhibits real innovation. If everybody wants to be like Shepard Fairey, we are left with a field plagued with imitators of an aesthetic becoming increasingly tired and contrived. Making a portrait of yourself that looks just like Barack Obama’s campaign posters does not make you a graphic designer. It merely imitates a temporary style delivered to you by the mass media. Imitation may be a good place to start as a designer, but to be successful (perhaps not monetarily) one must move into more experimental grounds.