Virality & vibe
Yesterday afternoon I posted a video on Instagram and Tik Tok. Already my most viral video (4M+ views across platforms) and it hasn't been 24 hours.
You can check it out here.
I came up with the beginning of the video right away. Contrasting things that used to have vibe (planes, cars, homes) with their modern vibe-less counterpart.
My wife helped me close the loop on the script. She's great at that. We tied it back to searching for the feeling you want to feel in a space and designing around that. Very simple 15 second video. When we finished, we looked at eachother and agreed that this one was either a hit or a total dud. You don't know. You just make, edit and publish. Every day. That's what being a professional creative is.
So why is this message so resonant online? And how does it relate to what you are doing.
I've got a few thoughts:
modern aesthetics
It's very apparent when you look around the modern world that the aesthetic quality of buildings (and probably things in general) has gone down. I think 80% of people would agree that 80% of what gets built today is pretty ugly, yet it continues to be built.
To add to this - it's very easy in the short term to assume luxury/trendy/expensive finishes = well designed. But they do not.
So, be on your guard! The shiny veneer of "new" masks a lot of poor design.
But also, this is great news for you as a designer! It means that if you add some old world detail and personality and vibe into your projects, you will win. The bar is low today.
Also, nostalgia is a powerful drug. The feeling of missing out on the "golden years" of times past. The feeling of your own life fleeting by.
Flying commercial when it was more like riding in a limousine than a greyhound bus. No one is immune.
If you can tap into nostalgia in your design and branding, it's probably smart. I'll add that merging more than one time period together into your home and projects is a great idea as well. It gives your spaces cultural & historical breadth, makes them less like a time capsule of today, and removes some of the pressure to be on trend.
chasing a feeling
Because design so often has to do with buying a bunch of new stuff, it sometimes feels very soulless and overly commercial, even though it is incredibly rewarding and fun. There is something simultaneously wonderful & cringe-inducing about buying a bunch of new stuff for your space. Does it have soul? It's hard to buy "soul" or "vibe."
That's why good design is more of a curation of a "feeling" than a simply a bunch of stuff put together in a room. There is something hyper-artistic and profoundly human about it. Like an original song, only one person can "write" that perfect room.
I've quoted Antonia Botero before in saying that "good design is not necessarily the product of more money." It's about intention. Intentionally to chase and create a "feeling" in your space.
In comparison to many modern, overly calm, detail-free interiors of today, creating feeling in your space is something tangible, instantly relatable, and infectious.
Go for it.
