The latest Malcolm Gladwell Revisionist History Podcast episode is about the songwriter Bobby Braddock and the song, Boulder to Birmingham was featured as sung by the resplendent Emmylou Harris. It's not just folk music that has been in the news, those 70's floral print disco shirts have been making a style comeback lately as well, although perhaps this time they won't unbutton them down to the navel.
Here's an article that was in Vogue magazine with a few of Emmylou's 1970's fashion looks http://www.vogue.com/article/emmylou-harris-birthday-personal-style. I find myself wondering, where are the bridges between these art, music, fashion, and graphic design trends? Which comes first, and is there a way to participate and feel current while not becoming quickly dated as so many fashion trends do? If you leave a website with the same design long enough does it too become cool again, like my aunt's bellbottoms? Is there such a thing as a "classic" look on a functional website? Also how can the shape of leather fringe translate into say, menu design layouts, if at all? Or does functionality always supersede aesthetics to such a point that this does not come into consideration? The answer, when doing user interface design, must lie somewhere in user testing, product goals, and chutzpah.
“emmylou harris” by bpmuzik is licensed under CC BY 2.0