What makes great design timeless?
Some design ages slowly while trendy work dates almost immediately, and the reasons aren’t obvious. In this clip from You’re Not the Audience, Parliament Creative Director Calvin Ross Carl sets up the questions he wants to explore about timelessness: why Braun, Dieter Rams, 1970s NASA identity, old Japanese packaging, and Swiss typography still feel contemporary. Answering a viewer, he separates the business case for timelessness, long-term value and financial efficiency, from the consumer experience that keeps people buying Braun decades after Rams left. It’s a preview of the You’re Not the Audience episode on timelessness, What the F*ck Is Timelessness?.
Watch the full episode
Outline
Summary
Calvin Ross Carl previews a question he’s been turning over: why does really great design age slowly while trendy design ages quickly? Even The Designers Republic’s Wipeout branding, which shouldn’t seem timeless, somehow is.
He lists the examples he wants to understand: the return of Pizza Hut Classic locations, Braun and Dieter Rams, old Japanese packaging, the 1970s NASA identity, and Swiss grid and typography. His underlying question is what kind of conviction leads design to age well.
Responding to a viewer who asks whether timelessness matters to anyone besides designers, he notes that brands and agencies value it because it promises long-term value and financial efficiency. The more interesting question is the customer experience, like why he still wants Braun products even though Rams hasn’t been there for decades.
Highlights
Great design ages slowly; trendy design ages quickly.
Even unexpected work, like Wipeout’s branding, can become timeless.
Braun, NASA’s 1970s identity, and Swiss typography still feel contemporary.
Brands value timelessness for long-term value and financial efficiency.
The consumer side of timelessness is the bigger open question.
Key insights
Timelessness isn’t predictable
Designers with strong convictions often aim for timelessness, but some work sticks and some doesn’t. Calvin treats the difference as something worth investigating rather than assuming.
The business case is efficiency
For brands and agencies, timelessness promises long-term value and economic efficiency, which is why the word comes up so often.
Heritage outlives the designer
Braun’s pull persists even though its products no longer look like Rams’ work, suggesting the brand’s history carries meaning on its own.
Detailed analysis
The clip frames timelessness as a set of open questions rather than a formula. By pairing design-world favorites like Rams and Swiss typography with mass-market examples like Pizza Hut, Calvin signals that longevity isn’t limited to one aesthetic.
His distinction between the business view and the consumer view sets up the most useful line of inquiry: what customers actually experience when a brand feels timeless, and why that keeps them loyal.
Conclusion
Why some design ages slowly is still an open question for Calvin, and that’s the point of the clip. Understanding the conviction and the customer experience behind lasting work is where the real answer lies.
Transcript
I think next week—I already hinted at this with Ryan in chat—I’m more specifically thinking about timelessness than authenticity. This is just something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. I’ve done episodes now about the Wipeout branding, The Designers Republic, whose stuff shouldn’t seem timeless, but somehow it is. And so I’ve been thinking a lot about why really great design ages slowly, and trendy design obviously ages quickly. I don’t really know. I guess some designers with strong convictions, we often aim for timelessness, but why does some stick around? Why don’t others?
This is just something I’ve been thinking about a lot. We’ve talked about things like the Pizza Hut Classic locations that have come back, where they’re really amplifying the timelessness of the brand. Why do we resonate with that? I don’t know if I have any clear ideas for that yet, but I think that’s what I’m going to dig into this week.
Especially for designers: why do Braun and Dieter Rams still feel contemporary to us? Why did those stick around? Why does some old Japanese packaging stick around? Why that ’70s—I’ve got the book around here somewhere—the old ’70s NASA identity? Why does that feel so classic? Why do those stick around? Why do Swiss grid and typography design stick around? So what conviction leads to good design aging slowly over time?
So Ryan: “Interesting subject. Does timelessness matter to people besides designers when brands now change so frequently?” Yeah, I think that’s kind of part of the reason I’m thinking about it. I think timelessness is a word that brands and branders care about, brands and agencies care about, because it promises long-term value to a client. It also essentially means economic and financial efficiency long-term. So that’s, I think, the business side of it.
But what I want to talk about a little bit is, what is the consumer and customer experience of those things? Why do I still want to buy Braun products, even though Dieter Rams hasn’t been there for decades? What about that long, timeless history, even though their products don’t really look like that anymore? Why does that stick with me?
So yeah, I think that’s what we’ll talk about next week. I’ll post some things up. I might try to put together this little subculture framework I was talking about, see if I can make sense of it, and share it in a video or share it online somehow. Yeah, I think that’s it. Thanks, everyone, for joining. That’s You’re Not the Audience for the week. See you next Thursday at noon Pacific time.