NYT Design Buzz Words by Jer Thorp at Ouno Design

These graphs, created by Jer Thorp of Ouno Design, are visualizations of design lingo used in the New York Times from 1984 to 2009. The one up top, for instance, shows frequency of use for the words "modernism" (red), "mid century modern" (orange), "eames" (yellow), and "corbusier" (magenta). See graphs comparing "vintage" VS "retro" and more below...

"interior design" VS "decor"

Look above at how the word "decor" dropped so drastically in recent years, giving way to "interior design".

"retro" VS "vintage"

And "retro" hardly even existed in the 80's. Hmmm... We think these findings are beautifully presented and offer an interesting insight. Do you? Do you find your own design-speak is pretty much aligned with what's shown in the graphs? Via: Ouno Design.

Comments (8)

I would love to put these graphs, framed on my wall.....maybe I missed it, but are they for sale?? They are so beautiful and interesting.

posted by amarie on February 24th 2009 at 6:24pm
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I have found that contemporary and modern get mangled in usage.

For instance, modern as defined means modern materials, design and construction, whilst contemporary usually infers traditional materials, construction but in a less traditional style but contemporary also refers to recent times for styles etc but not futuristic, space age etc like modern traditionally is.

and I see people mangle retro and vintage and sometimes reproductions, retro is a new piece made to look like an older piece or period, while vintage is a piece, say an Eames chair made years ago or during its original run, while a new one is a reproduction of the original and a chair that implies the look of the 50's MCM can be refered to as a retro piece.

I see people infer what is obviously an old piece and calling it retro and it just bugs me or calling an Eames chair contemporary when it's really modern.

posted by ciddyguy on February 24th 2009 at 7:55pm
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There are a lot of design terms I'd love to see disappear:

Pricepoint
Colorway
Landing strip
Pop

posted by LilyC on February 24th 2009 at 8:03pm
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Beautiful information graphics.

posted by farmhousemoderne on February 24th 2009 at 10:54pm
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Thanks for posting this! Just a quick correction: Jer did these *for* Ouno Design - he's not actually part of Ouno Design, except by extension. For more of his interesting NYT graphics look here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blprnt/. And if anyone has ideas for other word comparisons, please suggest some!

posted by Ouno Design on February 25th 2009 at 4:06am
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re: lilyC

i second "landing strip"..
can we add "drama" to the list?

posted by antimatt on February 25th 2009 at 11:35am
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ciddyguy -- thanks for your comment on retro -- you are spot on. I hate when people call my apt "retro" -- when in fact the place is filled with antiques.

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/small-cool-2006-entries/small-cool-extras-franks-midcentury-madness--008853

posted by Mid-C Frank on February 26th 2009 at 5:28pm
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I would wager that the decor vs. interior design graph is more indicative of a change in author rather than a change in accepted parlance. Perhaps someone retired or new was hired at the point where the graph changes dramatically, and the new author preferred a different term. It could also be result of a NY Times stylistic directive. Either way, very interesting and attractive graphs!

posted by parker on February 27th 2009 at 11:40am
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