Driving around town, you might notice the renovations that some fast food chains have upgraded to. For example, Taco Bell has traded their warm colors and geometric patterns for a modern look of gray tiles and purple LED lights.

McDonalds has done the same thing, swapping out their red and yellow colors for limestone bricks and wood paneling. 

I know that as time changes, certain looks and trends come in and out fashion. I understand that if a company wants to draw an audience, changing themselves to look like the “current thing” will make them more appealing.

Yet, I’m starting to wonder, when does the conformity become indistinguishable? What about that building, logo or house is supposed to draw me in? 

When making or designing anything, personality and meaning should be more important than being modern.

When coming up with inspiration for this subject, I stumbled across a Vogue video, in which celebrity Kim Kardashian gives a tour of her house. Immediately, the house seemed very dull and void of any personality. She had a few personal items here and there, but overall the house made me want to scream.

The house was supposed to give this calming energy, but the color of greige that she used for the entire house irked me rather than soothed, and again, the lack of personal items shown made it feel like a mental ward.

To compare, I watched another house tour, this time with Designer Anna Sui. Each one of her rooms were beautiful and so full of personality. I felt the love and craft she put into each and I felt I got to know a bit about her, just by seeing each room.

Conrastingly, I felt like I knew nothing about Kim when looking at her rooms, and decoration wise, it just looked simple.

Another example that I found was the changing of fonts. Though a minute feature, a brand’s font can give indications of the vibe it tries to curate to. Cursive and typewriter fonts can give a brand a classic look while thinner and more slanted fonts make the brand look more quirky and unique.

Instead of keeping their recognizable fonts, nowadays brands have switched over generic bold fonts that all look the same. Losing this recognizability doesn’t distinguish the brand from their competitors or draw me in to any of their products.

When going to a friend’s house, I love to look in their rooms. Whether it’s messy, clean, bombastic or artistic, it gives me a little sense of who they are! It’s a little bit sad seeing all these brands lose their originality for the sake of conformity. 

I also think that liking the minimalist, basic aesthetic is fine! Whatever floats your boat. Just please, if you’re going to make something inspired by it, make it personal or interesting and not something that looks like it should belong in a penitentiary.