Made aware of this by Fran Alvarez, a former student of mine who’s also a really good artist and designer. From the introduction to Stylepedia: A Guide to Design Mannerisms, Quirks, and Conceits:

“The word ‘style’ has resonance beyond commonly accepted prejudices and, there, should not be seen as mere superfluity. In graphic design, style is sometimes the look, but more often than not the content, the mechanism by which concepts are communicated and ideas are expressed. Thus many stylists are proponents of distinct mannerisms that define an ethos, creating design entities that propel ideas into public’s consciousness. Style is also a vessel of aesthetics, and one of design history’s most illuminating guideposts; histories that focus on decisive events and individual achievement evoke style to shed contextual light. We cannot remember the 1930s without thinking of Streamline and Art Deco, nor can we think of the midcentury without its heroic Modernist style. In each instance style was more than mere skin (as if skin were mere!). “The great art style of any period is that which related to the true insight of its time,” Paul Rand is quoted as saying in A Designer’s Words (1998).”