ArtBistro

I think in the past we've had more distinct and specific notions of beauty and ways of seeing the world and how we represent it, but now as we live in an age of information, things are quite different.  You can see how the art world has become more global with the explosion of biennials, art fairs, and globe trotting art shows.  All of these phenomena are able to be experienced, to one degree or another, by anyone around the world.  The same is obvious and true with Design in general.  This applies especially to the internet, because it is its own nation, a distinct culture in and of itself. 

There are of course distinct trends in regions of the world, even on the web, as can be seen in comparing say, Japanese design, with say, Western European design.  I don't consider myself a designer, but this is pretty easy to see.  I am not sure about the Nationalistic thing though. There are distinct design and art trends within specific countries, whether in print, fashion, web etc, but there is definitely cross pollination with other countries via globalization and quick channels of communication.  This then leads to everything influencing everything.

hmmmmm....   interesting to think about. 

I find it curious that you reference some Continental design as "european" [sic] and presumably all else as "latin" [sic]. Last time I checked, the EU -- and all that other lot, too -- recognised the "Latin" countries of Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium (on Tuesday, I think), Italy, Romania, Switzerland (I'm asking for a beating), San Marino, Andorra etc (yes there are others) as integral parts of Europe. I encourage doing likewise.

Carry on!

And your point is? BTW: I do seem to recall that Italy has some affinity with Latin...no, wait, it will come to me...

Quite off the topic, now .

You can see from different nationalities' websites that there is a difference. Some value aesthetics over functionality. Some functonality over aesthetics. The valued aesthetics themselves vary greatly. I also think that designers who are educated and study the famous designers have more in common across boarders than desigers with in nations with differing educational backgrounds.

As in art, sometimes the folk art or outsider art is more interesting than the polished, slick "educated" art.  So it is with design also. The key is to not loose your own voice when you go to school. Some end up imitating others instead of learning from others. Individuals voices' are influenced by environmental factors like culture and environment or nations among other things like personality and social interaction.

Well European tastes generally are not as frivolous or tacky as ours . Not to be rude but its the difference between a french restaurant and burger king =/ .  culture are design ideas are quite different .

PatsyC says ...

European design is as beatiful as it is functional, I think.

Totally second this... 

montlaurel says ...

 there is no one, monogamous, European standard, or ideal, respective of design or, for that matter, aesthetics. I could share with you funny anecdotes about drunkenly determining which side of a snowy border I was standing based entirely on the paint scheme of homes and business facades in front of me -- but I fear being misunderstood, again. (I found the police tend to favour culturally distinct uniforms as well...lol)

I was just generalizing of course Sweden has its red or mustard color homes, Germany has those beautiful gingerbread style of home and the colors vary greatly from one country to the next. 

 In a nutshell of course different nations have different cultural and aesthetic values or volition. Popular culture may be about crossing those boarders but it cannot be denied that humankind is more of a discriminating being than a social one. That may seem harsh but it's all the more reason why we need to communicate, inform, and celebrate the Family of Man as they use to say before the days of political correctness. So yes celebrate the difference, if you are not you then how can I be me, if you deny me then we both loose respect?

Art doesn't exist in a vacuum, it embraces and is informed by culture, philosophy, politics, technology, language, religion, psychology and many more subjects too numerous to mention here. The point being that any alteration within the priorities mentioned about and you've done something as dramatic as altering the genetic code of a particular person in an ocean of people.

Okay, I'll try to be more specific. Take writing. We all type on machines today but if we go back and look at language and writing even for Western Europe exclusively, we find that distinct aspects of grammar effected the style of penmanship. In Japan the frugal nature of maintaining a standing Samurai Army and the austere teachings of Buddhism led to adoration of nature and simplicity at a time when Europe celebrated ostentatious displays of wealth. Arabs by way of Islam deplore Iconography and so overcompensate in detailed decorations. The stereotype for the whole of Africa is bright loud colours which is not at all true in many regions, but that's a perception still commonly held. Feng Shu teaches that there is an inner harmony in proper design that effects health and well being. Read Shakespare carefully and one can see he is fond of using local or regional language and expressions to add identity to the actor.

In the end I would argue that this is all a grand deception, the Buddha hung out mutton but he only sold dog meat, that art is a universal language but we are all still quite illiterate, at best understanding much but actually knowing very little. Because it is so the Wise use expedients to teach, methods more comfortable, less stressful, or not so harsh until the lesson is learned and then the expedient can be abandoned. You can't handle the truth, became a blockbuster joke but it is a point. Nations and cultures and religions and even science uses their own system of expedients and to disrupt that can deflect the whole lesson, the wise must then ask themselves who really benefits on either path of this fork in the road.

I think he made the point that nations do have distinct design aesthetics, but then he went over the edge with explanation.