In the last few years, companies have turned to social media as a marketing platform for their goods. It has become crucial to have social media channels which amplify a company’s key messages and get a broader and more engaged audience. Social media has given rise to micro-influencers who shape the opinions of the masses when it comes to different products and services. Some influencers quickly gain celebrity status and become instrumental in shaping the opinions of their followers. As a result, the industry has had to adjust design trends to appeal to a wider audience.

Here are a few ways in which popular media is impacting the design industry:

 

Special Edition Items

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Designs that are based or themed around games, movies, series, and popular TV shows have been around for a very long time. This trend is morphing, however, and a bigger variety of special edition items based on games and movies have become a mainstream source of ideas and inspiration for the design of souvenirs. These special edition items include:

  • Printed shirts, jerseys, and T-shirts
  • Costumes
  • Stationery
  • Bedding
  • Beauty and Cosmetics

Designers have really started thinking outside the traditional confinement of just wearing hero costumes during Halloween or comic conventions; instead, they are making special items that are based on movies a part of their fans’ day-to-day experiences.

 

The Selfie Generation

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Selfies have risen in popularity and have almost replaced conventional photography. As a result, phone manufacturers have had to rethink their technological designs. Today, the most popular cell phones are those which offer the best selfies and the largest storage capacities for the same. While the selfie trend has influenced technological design in itself, there is more that has resulted from this trend.

Millennials are a generation who believe in figuring it out for themselves. They do not want to be passive consumers of what is prescribed to them, but rather desire to be part of the creation process. This has led to the rise of applications which allow them to customize the designs of everything from outfits to cars, and everything in between. There are brands whose websites allow people to log on, create their own design, and submit it for printing. DIY has become very central in design, and the role of the designer has become more passive. Today, a designer finds themselves taking a backseat in some instances, and reserving their role to refining what the consumer wants as opposed to prescribing what would be best for the consumer.

 

Rise of the Memes

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Pop media keeps coming up with new and interesting ways of entertaining the masses. Memes are a trend which started a while back, and they have become quite mainstream. The beauty of memes is the fact that anyone can relate to them and they pass across a humorous message, regardless of the background of the person viewing them. Making a meme combines wit, sense of humor, and design skills.  As a result, you’re now able to purchase apparel featuring popular memes. It’s now more common to see people donning printed t-shirts with these images.

 

Beauty Products and Media

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Media has also influenced beauty products and makeup in recent years. In the past, special effects makeup was a reserved for Halloween.  Now, we’re seeing a rise of companies taking advantage of pop culture to promote product lines. For example, you can now find Star Wars cosmetics sets containing eyeliners, powders, and makeup mirrors branded with images of popular Star Wars characters. 

 

Trends have certainly changed over the decades, but one thing that will remain is the fact that pop culture and popular media will always play a large part in modern design.