The New Normalize
As a visiting instructor at Pratt Institute, I attend end-of-semester critiques and regularly hear the following project introduction: I designed this for people who are embarrassed about shopping for .
Inevitably, the design solution is a packaging system or app, and the embarrassing problem is any number of things: indigestion, menstruation, acne, sex toys. The students’ design outcomes are often slick and modern, standing apart by “hiding” the product.
It’s not the visual designs that I critique as much as the intent. As designers, our job is to solve problems, and human insecurities are a smart place to start. But we also observe the world around us — the news, social media, pop culture — and right now, hiding isn’t trending.
2020 has given people a lot of time with their thoughts, and the thoughts being shared are urging people to normalize behaviors we’re not used to seeing: normalize vulnerability, normalize being happy without being in a relationship, normalize finding your purpose in your 50s.
These messages are effective because instead of masking our insecurities — showing vulnerability, being single, not having your life figured out — they celebrate them. Their tone is hopeful and expressive, in direct contrast to the many hateful behaviors normalized by a particular administration over the past 4 years.
So, how do we as designers acknowledge this new ethos and incorporate it into our work? First, if the “problem” is a consumer’s insecurity, the design solution should be sensitive to it — but that doesn’t mean it needs to be the loudest visual element. Like the example below, you can address the issue with normalcy, acceptance, and a bit of humor.
Next, work with the intent to inspire the customer/ client/ human being with a compelling reason for purchase: the personal connection. The reason I pause when I see a tweet saying “normalize chasing your dreams in your 40s” is that it’s something I, and everyone I know, still seem to be doing at every age. So, instead of speaking to everyone, choose a specific audience (like the person whose answer to everything is cheese).
Lastly, the packaging doesn’t have the real estate to fit the product information, the storytelling, and an emotionally compelling message. It still needs to be functional and aesthetically balanced, so if the design is trying too hard to answer all the project parameters, find other opportunities to fill in the rest: signage, digital marketing, the client pitch. There is rarely one single design capable solving every problem. Normalize accepting those limits.
