Distressed Jeans Anyone?

The purpose of this blog is to discuss, debate and rationalize the use of distorted, dirty, glitched or 'grunge' aesthetic in contemporary graphic design.

Modern desktop publishing technologies provide a lab-safe, sterile environment for the designer. A blank canvas, accurate to 0.000mm where the default angles are a rigid 90 degrees. The desire to undermine this formula by deliberately including elements that hint at hand-made smudges and spills or digital spikes and glitches is the focus of my investigation.

Question: Is this ‘deliberately damaged’ design aesthetic, an interesting and relevant response to ‘slick graphics’ & the slow strangulation of design by ‘branding’?

Or simply...the graphic design equivalent of manufacturing distressed jeans?