Tattoos have always been about being different and sticking out from the crowd. This has lead just about every person seeking to get a tattoo to want to get something different than what others have gotten. Yet paradoxically this search for something unique and different also leads to creating hot trends in tattoo designs. You see for a while it was the tribal arm band tattoo, then it was the lower back tattoo for women. Before that it was the nautical star, the butterfly and on and on. One could go on forever tracing the "hot trends" in tattoo designs. However, when you research tattoo designs trends you begin to discover that they all started out of the desire to be unique and different. One or two people get a tattoo design that at the time is different and ground breaking. Then other people see the tattoo and they want to get one like it. Thus leads to more and more people getting a similar tattoo and leads to a developing trend in tattoo design. It is always fueled by the search for something different. For example the female that first got full sized angel wings tattoos has become famous in tattoo circles. She did this years ago and it was a very unique and original design at the time. However, it fueled a hot trend for angel wing tattoo designs. Now they are pretty common as a tattoo design for women these days.
Thus is kind of like the search for the Holy Grail is it the never ending story or the never ending search for perfection. Everyone is searching for something that is different and unique and yet this leads to people getting what others are and it leads to hot trends in tattoo designs. So how do you differentiate yourself and your tattoo designs from every one else and how do you end up with something that is unique and cool at the same time.