This article looks at the ways in which brands are moving away from masculine and feminine stereotypes and looking at how to develop design techniques to be genderless.
Transgender and pan-sexuality have gone mainstream. Part liberation and part revolt against the restrictive design codes that have long defined what it means to ‘be’ male or female, the genderless design aesthetic is rising in prominence to celebrate individuality over sex, writes Ed Silk.
‘Classic’ design in brands has long been maligned as part of the problem in perpetuating gender-based stereotypes, roles and aesthetic tastes, but we are now seeing a different design trend emerge. Perhaps it's a backlash against the feminised ‘pink’ and masculinised ‘blue’ codes that have dictated gender-based brand design; an aesthetic celebration of freedom and choice, if you will, from a world limited by deep-rooted cultural norms. Today, we are seeing a return to androgynous simplicity – embracing design that celebrates individuality.
Brands must increase their individuality and demonstrate their soul power to attract a population of gender-liberated individuals whose decisions are no longer influenced by gender. Firstly, they must allow the aesthetic to articulate the concept, colour, texture, shape and form so that the overall design is relatable to all. Secondly, brands must ‘offset to reset’ – in other words, bring together both masculine and feminine cues to create unisex harmony. Another way in which to override gender-led design codes is to deliver a brand character and identity that is so endearing and compelling in nature, that it transcends gender altogether.
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| Neutral typeface |
The typeface 'Neutral', was designed almost a decade ago and is now finally out. It takes inspiration from typefaces that seem ageless, remaining fresh and relevant even decades after they were designed. Neutral began as Kai Bernau’s graduation project at KABK (the Royal Academy of Art), taking inspiration from typefaces that seem ageless, remaining fresh and relevant even decades after they were designed. It was constructed based on a set of parameters derived by measuring and averaging a number of popular 20th-century Sans Serif fonts.
Aware that there is no such thing as total neutrality, this typeface explores how the absence of stylistic associations can help the reader to engage with the content of a text. The Conceptual Art movement of the 1960s, emphasised the purity of the idea-as-artwork over its materialisation, and whose proponents produced artworks that in many cases only existed in written form.
Gen Neutral - Aleksandra Szymanska
Creatives are rejecting the traditional dichotomy of feminine versus masculine and inventing a gender-neutral language of sensuality. The article highlights the importance of textures and colours in order to achieve a gender neutral brand or design of something. I went through the article and highlighted the different points that I felt to be relevant to the design of my magazine. The most important things within the article that I learnt was the idea of rejecting the traditional masculine and feminine design cues and how more inclusive visual identities need to be created. In terms of colour, the article points out that replacement of the loud, candy-coloured Generation I needs to take place in order to achieve a more neutral design.
Existing packaging
As part of the research into a more neutral design approach it seemed important to look at neutral packaging design as examples because there are not many editorial pieces yet. One example that I looked into was the Dermalogica skin brand which is a product line free of common irritants and ingredients. The packaging design is neutral in order to represent the minimal use of ingredients and how they are clean and also suitable for both genders. The design of the packaging is built around the basis of it being predominately white with elements of grey. The decision to introduce colour is important as it is used to categorise the products so that the customers can easily distinguish between the products and find the right one for their skin type. The use of a small amount of colour is appropriate when trying to achieve a neutral neutral design style and the typeface is sans serif and also grey which is a neutral colour.
I have learnt that to achieve a gender neutral design outcome, the colours need to be kept to a minimal and used more as a tool of categorisation rather than aesthetic and the typefaces seem to be sans serif and often grey and white are the main colours used.
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