My mother always said: “Plan past lunch.” I think this saying also applies to design. Quick, easy and overdone seem to be the staple on the menu these days. As budgets get cut, so do time lines and clients sometimes need to be “WOWed’ in shorter periods of time. So I always try to simply look at the shapes and styles other designers are using; and do the opposite. If they are big on serif type-plan for a sanserif comeback. If there is lots of gradients being over used-I move to flat colors. The only real “look” I am hesitant upon messing with is the 90’s. Throwing gray into every primary color is not smart or tasteful. With that I remember the late Prof. Goslin at Pratt, who growled down at me 7 years ago and said: “If you’ve seen it’s been done before-DON’T DO IT.”