Doctor Go: Design Trend Obsession Disorder
(Doctor Go is your exclusive health advisor who is specialized in branding and design related illnesses. If you are experiencing a career threatening emergency, please visit the nearest urgent care facility.)
This week, we will talk about Design Trend Obsession Disorder (DTO). DTO is a disorder that causes mediocrity, banality and confusion.
Symptoms
- Lack of creativity
- Confusion
- Banality in work
- Self blame
- Diarrhea
At early stages, the symptoms are mild and sometimes not recognizable. If left undiagnosed and untreated, the disorder can progress quickly and become chronic.
Diagnosis
Your doctor may be able to diagnose DTO based on your answers to these questions:
- Have you googled ‘design trends for 2021’ in the past 3 months?
- Does your favorite Pinterest board include an excessive amount of look-alike design work from different designers,
- Have you recently found yourself trying to imitate trendy design work?
If your answer is ‘yes’ to at least one of the above questions, you might be suffering from DTO.
Treatment
Diet is the most common and effective treatment for DTO. 88% of the patients experience immediate relief after one week of proper dietary changes that include stopping browsing social media for design inspiration, not visiting web pages that cover ‘design trends of the year’, and looking for inspiration in books, stories, TV shows, movies, and real life events.
Stress is also one of the main reasons of Design Trend Obsession Disorder. Some patients have the false thought that they may not be able to keep up with other designers if they don’t copy trends and prove that they are capable of creating work that looks exactly like the other trendy designs. If you have that kind of thinking, try to look at real masters’ designs to realize that they have their very own, distinctive styles, since they don’t follow the trends, and instead, they set them with their originality.
