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Think of a time in the past. Say the 70s. Did everything look the same? Maybe not as converged as now, but still, if you walked into a 70s bathroom you'd be lik
by jemmyw 4y ago
Think of a time in the past. Say the 70s. Did everything look the same? Maybe not as converged as now, but still, if you walked into a 70s bathroom you'd be like "This is a 70s bathroom". You could probably look at most cars from the 70s and say it was a 70s style design.
Trends follow fashion and capability and regulation. Cars all look the same now because they need to achieve a certain industry wide mpg set by regulation, therefore they follow the same aerodynamic constraints, leaving the makers with the same limited room to make a difference.
Room design follows fashion. You can have whatever you like, but when you want to sell a place you need to appeal to the mass market and so you go with the current up-to-date look.
And things like AirBnBs all having succulent plants and Nespresso machines - people like plants and succulents are the easiest to care for, people like coffee and Nespresso is cheap and easy to provide.
Many things are just waiting for some technical capability. Like folding phones - we'll get a flurry of interesting designs, but if they work out then eventually they'll all converge on the design that works.
- city17 4y agoYou're right, this process has always happened. But I think these days it's different in that it is almost completely globalized, whereas before you would have different trends in different countries, and trends are able to spread more quickly, resulting in less experimentation/differentation by those who aren't aware of the trend yet.
- robotnikman 4y agoI definitely believe wide availability of the internet helped with that. Nowadays you can easily look up what a home in any country looks like and get a bunch of images.
- coldtea 4y ago>Think of a time in the past. Say the 70s. Did everything look the same? No. At worst it just had a few shared aesthetics (which we associate with the 70s look). But far more divergence. And even the aesthetics were way more open ended (e.g. the color palette was huge, now it's white, gray, 4-5 pastels and generall very similar-looking hues that dominate most industries). Look at the brand logos for fashion brands in the TFA, for an example of logos looking unique in the past and then changed to totally homogeneous.
- dopidopHN 4y agoI’m French, in the 70 if you came to my parent bathroom you could have tell. If you came to a French batbroom now. You might not be able to tell. Specially in a modern appartement in a city
- JKCalhoun 4y ago> Cars all look the same now because they need to achieve a certain industry wide... Cars seem to be all the same color these days too. Unfortunately, I think it's not just engineering constraints that are giving us "blanding" but a type of corporate marketing bean-counter that minimizes risk by selling to the lowest common denominator demographic. Apparently that LCD likes metallic-grey cars. I'm disappointed that marketers (and perhaps too the buying public) have become so risk-averse when it comes to styling.
- CharlesW 4y ago> Apparently that LCD likes metallic-grey cars. Lately it seems like ⅓ of the new cars I'm seeing are Nardo Gray. https://www.google.com/search?source=univ&tbm=isch&q=Nardo+Gray https://www.google.com/search?source=univ&tbm=isch&q=Nardo+G...
- JKCalhoun 4y agoStill lacking hue but, change, I'll take it.
- dehrmann 4y agoPart of the car color thing is how secure people feel financially. When they feel good, they buy a color that speaks to them. When they don't, they buy a color with resale value, black, white, or gray.
- Kimitri 4y agoA few months ago we switched from a small dark blue hatchback to a bigger silver grey SUV. At the time I didn't really think about the color. Then I had a conversation with our neighbour and he pointed out that silver grey is an excellent color for a daily driver - small scratches are practically invisible and so are the tacky chrome accents. So, yes, I know I'm driving the most boring looking car on the road but I do like the practicality of it.
- Ekaros 4y agoI have silver grey car and yes, the scratches on doors are only visible from distance. And I really don't have to wash it that often.
- chaostheory 4y agoEverything also looks the same because it’s cheaper for everyone that way. Being unique is not affordable for many people. It’s a luxury.
- Finnucane 4y agoFashion trends come and go but homogenization has clearly increased. In the 1970s, you could tell the brand of a car immediately by looking at it. One difference was that retail branding was designed to be seen large: billboards, large print ads, TV. Now it is designed to be seen small, on phones. Also, in the past, when you traveled, places felt more different: you didn't always see the same stuff everywhere.
- btbuildem 4y agoI think that has a large role to play -- every "decade" / time period has had its identifying aesthetic qualities, trends that have been picked up and adopted en masse. Perhaps in the early 2020's the trend is corporatized blandness, the naked skeleton of capitalism showing through skin as thin as profit margins.