Return of the Grunge

Design has tried it’s best to make corporations and companies appear friendly for the last few years. Corporate Memphis and it’s bendy-legged progeny proliferate every new rebrand.* Similarly, the trundling food mascot with its rubber-hose limbs has strolled onto many a menu and merchandise shelf. Corners of letterforms are softened. Bloopy scripts are added. Brand books are awash with smooth, comfy gradients. Colors are dialed up to their brightest and juiciest.

So I predict the backlash is well on it’s way.

Here comes grit and texture to push us away from digital perfection. Here comes stuttering, unaligned typography. Here come strange, gross color combinations. Here comes the new spin on the “authentic” photo.

Someone could argue it’s already here: look at the “metal” typography bubbling on social media, the plethora of dither textures, riso textures, xerox textures being heaped on photos. The functional, semi-naive brutalism stretching default shapes and sans-serifs.

So I suppose I’ll crystallize this prediction a bit more.

There will be a renewed race toward authenticity as folks navigate through an Ai-agent filled world. The “real-deal” will have a whole new meaning. The “friendliness” so pervasive in current corporate design will only become more ironic, more twisted when you know it’s a data-center-sized machine behind the smily face. Practical skepticism will rein supreme as folks try their best to prioritize humanity or efficiency.

*As someone who likes to illustrate, it’s particularly sad to see these illustration libraries become so boring.

**I’ve made my fair share of these, myself.