Style is ever changing, and different styles suit different requirements. But questions of style and its importance in design work incite (very) strong opinions from designers and creatives. Often dubbed as ‘signature touch’ or ‘unique voice’, style is also referred to as a designer’s personal touch in their creative works. Is that a good thing or not? While some designers take huge pride in etching their works with their signatures, others cannot even imagine being ‘confined’ to a style.
At Kyoorius Designyatra 2020, we asked a few industry experts — creative director Naomi White, illustrators Vijaya Aswani and Anastasia Beltyukova, and industrial designer Karim Rashid — about their opinions on developing a style in their work. What we got was a variety of definitions on what style is: while White says that style is different from creative voice, Aswani believes that style is something that others can recognise in a designer’s work, Beltyukova advises on forgetting the style and just have fun while Rashid says that style is just an overlay of vernacular on your design.