Youth and art trend

I believe art has always fascinated Youth from early but for this generation of Youth art is something more to them. This because there is more access to means of artistic expression than ever before and greater possibilities for reach. There is also some new possibilities to innovate and for Youth today to express their own unique identity.

Why is visual art so important to Youth? I believe it is about identity formation, expression and experimentation. Last night for the first time I saw a graffiti artist in action in a nearby park – first time for me as I’ve only ever seen their prolific output in Australian streets. And yes perhaps not surprisingly they were around 17 male - not a grandpa, grandma, baby boomer or Gen X’er.

I am not the first one to say…Youth for the first time has the time and tools to be an artist. Everyone can be a film maker, designer, publisher whereas only a small elite population could be artists in any previous times sponsored by a patron or living in poverty. Then there is the ‘must have’ Carl Zeiss lense Nokia phone that can make everyone a film director.

Our ongoing research project on Youth in Asia and Australia is about Youth identities and one of the identities is a performer at heart – this is all about being able to experiment with and play different characters..

This type of Youth persona can be recognised by the colours they choose to express themselves with, the packaging shapes and styles they likely to choose to identify themselves with.

The colours to watch are Red, Fuscia, Sky Blue, Brown/grey.

The desire to express yourself over objects, take ownership by writing your name or overlaying your designs is a strong one when identity is forming. I recall when I was 14 or so I came to school one day to find all my heavily doodle’d class books and possessions (previously labeled with my name) suddenly with someone else’s name on them. It caused anuproar at the school with the teachers, an unfamiliar pain for me and the identity thief was whisked away from the school for a while.

There are now more and more brands tapping into the major appeal of art for Youth - recognizing how Youth is embracing art. Perhaps more from the point of view that art is cool than from the point of view that art is identity formation though.

In Shanghai Coke has a whole shop that I visited which is dedicated to the ‘Coke is Art, Coke is Innovation’. Here you can see you favourite iconic Coke bottle shape with a myriad of visual designs by young artists.

Nokia has united 10 of the world’s artists to invest in their Connect to Art Project – inviting downloads new technology for free in the exhibition.

Yen magazine is featuring Connies ‘out of respect to the special shoe in your life...teaming up with artists including The People’s Republic of Animation presenting your favourite Connies with their own unique artistic treatments and positioning them as…’Connies have always been more like a best friend than a regular pair of shoes that protect your feet from gritty streets’. (Doesn’t say it’s an advertorial just something nice from Yen magazine to Converse. Wonder who paid for this? Great for both Yen and Converse.)

Giving the power for the consumer to be the artist is the hard one for brands marketers - and making it work.