Everything to know about the anti-design movement

Anti-Design 

Like the term says, “Anti-Design” stands for everything that design doesn’t stand for. It is the rebellious and almost eccentric flip side of design purposefully created to challenge the stereotypical format and rules of design to create something completely bizarre, creative yet functional. 

‍

Origins of Anti-Design 

In truth one cannot put a time-stamp on the origin of anti-design as this is related to design and ever since art and design has existed, you will find a sect of artists and designers who go rogue and create something mutated as a rebellion towards the design standards.

However, if you want to timestamp it, you could start with the design movement that occurred in Italy in the late 1960s with the name “anti-design” aka Radical Design movement. Initiated by architects, designers, and art students in Italy, they wanted to go up against modernism and what it stood for i.e. simplicity and minimalistic to favour mass production and consumerism. The new designers simply wanted to challenge the old rules and think outside the box and so Anti-design was born. It started off as a reaction to industrial design namely in architecture, furniture and decor. 

‍

Some classic traits of anti-design

Anti-design as a concept has seeped into not only the digital design world but also into furniture, architecture, decor, fashion and food as well where ugly trumps pretty.

You probably have seen examples of anti-design without knowing what it is. Some obvious traits of anti-design are:

• Color palettes that clash
• Misalignment and asymmetry 
• Overlapping imagery and text
• No grids or layouts 
• Mismatched and crowded elements 
• Unclear typography

‍

Some striking examples of Anti-design eras and artists

Anti-design has been there for a long time. Following are some examples of anti-design etched in history:

1. 80s and 90s Era - It began in the 80s with Italian designer Ettore Sottsass being called the father of the movement, adopted Pop Art through his Memphis design; a design concept created by his team that called themselves the Memphis Group. Uneven geometric patterns - circles, triangles and squiggles, graphic black-and-white stripes and bold contrasting palettes is what it was made of. 

The 90s was having a heavy hangover of this design trend and since the internet and Photoshop was invented, it became even more popular in the music and entertainment industry. Striking logos like Seinfeld Logos, movies like Austin Powers going for groovy fonts and flower power for their poster to rave culture taking off with neon colours and distorted designs being used in their flyers. It was everywhere. 

2. Famous Artists - Let’s take a look at some of the artists that were into Anti-Design. 

1. Ettore Sottsass Jr - He was the father of this movement creating obelisk looking cupboards, with tacky plastic laminates.
2. Vico Magistretti (1966) - He created ‘The Selene chair’.
3. Castiglioni (1969) – The Boalum flexible lamp. 
4. Piero Gilardi – He created Sassi which means “the rocks.” Chairs that looked like rocks. 

‍

When and How to use Anti-design 

Anti-design in today’s time is a choice more than a reaction. You have to ask, “why would anyone want to choose anti-design over simplicity and comfort? Why would someone go for a bad design that is difficult to use on purpose?” 

Some of the reasons are to grasp the users’ attention and keep them engaged; to use it as a humorous piece; to divert from usual cookie-cutter design styles and bring complexity just for some change; if your brand is about creative fields then you can explore anti-design for your brand to make it more memorable.

Anti-design is not about “breaking the rules” of design per se. In my opinion it is more about re-interpreting or bending the rules. One still needs a serious understanding of design concepts and principles to pull off a good piece of anti-design artwork. Or it will just end up a ghastly mess. 

“To break the rules you first need to learn the game.”

‍

Here are some examples where Website followed the Anti-design Movement