brief thought on novelty

Thinking a little on the relationship between commerce [perhaps better thought of as economics?] and Illustrative practice perhaps its good to look at its relationship over the past 'epoch' that has seen the rise of capitalism and consumer society. I recently watched an interesting TED talk that presented ideas around current economic models and the environment. It described a very simple relationship between manufacturer and consumer. One element in the cyclical pattern of activity was the human desire for novelty - new stuff. Marketing things that we buy is part of the remit of illustration, Illustrators are 'novelty' mongers. The need to develop new ways of communicating complex ideas [around brand identity/aspiration/desire/ego] falls to Illustrators clients and eventually to Illustrators. The part played in that role ought to be explored further.