Style Makers
Illustration by Ayo Arogunmati
To transition from one record to the next, DJs often count in 4-bar loops - ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR - then, with a flick of the wrist or press of a button on the ONE coming immediately after, a seamless transition to the next song. Learning this technique is a basic requirement of this art form but while necessary, the technique is not sufficient to make you a great DJ. What you need is your own your own style.
In search of my DJ style, I focused on tempo transitions. The question I had to resolve was how to shift the music in play from a slow tempo to a mid tempo and ending with a fast tempo. I decided on a looping method - start with four slow tempo records, then five mid tempo songs, ending with five fast tempo records as the anchor, as if in a relay. Following the set of fourteen records, the fifteenth record or the first song of the second set begins with a slow tempo record. This approach, discovered through practice, is how I made my style.
Visualization of tempo transitions. Slow (Y), Med (B), Fast (O)
There are many forms in which the idea of making style is communicated. For example, a writer might be encouraged to find their own voice, an athlete will likely hear it as find your role, and a singer may need to explore their vocal range. Each approach different but all are interested in the idea of making style.
What exactly is making style? This compound word suggests infinite possibilities to create and shape things around us. Yet, from observation, it appears only the artistic and creative fields cultivate this idea. Our culture has accepted this disconnect between the infinite possibilities and its limitation to certain fields of work, but why? It seems the words making and style are not well understood. The splitting of the words followed by a recombination may illuminate a path to making our own style.
A forceful way of putting together, to create, defines the act of making. And the manner of doing something defines style. The words making and style can be broken down into its component parts and then combined to reduce the level of abstraction. Making Style becomes the act of changing a manner something is done forcefully, a more useful approach to finding the path to a style.
The decomposition of the words also makes it clear that finding your style does not require a start from zero, but is a process of altering the current way of doing something.
Three states of style exists according to John Maeda. A thing or idea can be out of style, meaning the thing is no longer remarkable and the culture has decided not to do things this way any more. There are also things, ideas and products that are in style. These are things accepted by the masses supported by mass media. And then there is making style. This is the avant garde, the creators and innovators of the cool, of the new. But making style is finite and an artist may experience the death of their style at the making phase.
A small group might start doing something, get the right buzz and others join the journey. It goes in style for a period and slowly or unexpectedly starts to fade. How it ends is often what receives the most attention, but an artist should not stop because the style ends. Style making can only proceed in three ways.
Making Style ----> In Style
Making Style ----> Out of Style
Making Style ----> In Style ----> Out of Style
As it is unpredictable to determine how our styles will evolve, making style becomes only thing we can control. Yohki Yamamoto, a fashion designer, said “a Japanese hand has become the most expensive in the world” - his insight is that the men or women continue to make style, a long tradition that does not change with new fads or trends. This might be why we care about where things come from.
“Made in Japan” speaks to the buyer and has a meaning that another “Made in X” does not possess. Style making is infused with beauty, as the famous designer Valentino once said. He was asked what he looks for in a model, his response was good taste. I think he means someone who is making style.
Technology provides the leverage to learn, copy and reimagine something new, if done correctly. It also allows us to release now and continuously improve.This is a deviation from how style making has been historically. In the past, the expectation is to build, release and move on. In the book “How To Speak Machine”, John Maeda describes two competing theories - there is the design temple and the technology temple. Both competing for the right way to make style.
Design is make now and move on, while technology is make now and observe. Rather than choosing which temple we belong, I think the two are complimentary. The technology temple gives us permission to make style, but the design temple is how to remain in style.
In the act of making style, we are attempting to alter the equilibrium of things, a shift that may be resisted by our culture. But we have to do it anyway. In the process of making style, we should attempt to answer certain questions. Did you cultivate a minimum viable audience? Is your style remarkable? Are others talking about you and your work? And are you producing and sharing your unfinished work? The order begins from the end.
