Fades

LogoLounge 2023: Fades

In an international survey, participants were asked which of their senses they’d least like to lose. An astounding 70% responded sight with 8% least wanting to lose their hearing, with smell, touch, and taste trailing in the results–no surprise to a contingent of designers that would probably clock in at 100% in favor of keeping their sight. What does strike me is that most of the population either wears glasses or has some form of corrective vision. We forget that up until the last century a large piece of the population just lived with an inability to focus. That’s a circuitous set-up for this trend which is counterintuitive and puts a consumer’s strong vision to a test or at least challenges it.

This logo for Blurry is a beautiful thing to behold if I knew where to grab it. The completely unfocused orb speaks to the app of the same name which assists in linking musical artists through anonymity. Smart thinking. Most of the marks that are adopting some forms of this effect are blending focused and unfocused elements to help contrast one from the other or to show a gradual shift to demonstrate building clarity or possibly in the inverse if they want to obfuscate. There have been some exceptional uses of this in brand applications where animation allows focus to tell a story as it creates a transitional reveal in slow motion. Catch the way the Myers & Briggs Foundation utilizes this via personality testing to reveal an individual’s awareness of themselves. parker.studio/work/myers-briggs