What's your opinion on flat design? Here to stay or just a bit of a fad?

Apple adopted it. It's now here to stay.

 

In all seriousness, it does bring content to the forefront, and, when done correctly, improves usability of the UI. It makes sense for it to stick around now we're all responsive and what-not.

I think it's here to stay for a while. I personally think it looks great and is a nice contrast to the gradients and alike. I love the new ios look also, so I hope it's here to stay for longer than the trend of banderoles.

same as "web 2.0" - gets hijacked as a trend.

 

there may be some very good reasons of using this approach but does it suit your particular message?

Flat design is the trend now a days even the Microsoft and Google use this trend so we should stay for a moment. it seems great and we should have some interest in it.

Its here to stay, flat design was created by the swiss in the 1950's and is definitely here to stay.

 

Up until this point web design has been relevantly fast moving in regards to design, new trends enter and old treads disappear but in all honesty I think we have reached a peak, a balance between great design and accessibility and although there will be trends that come and go, like long shadows for example, true flat design I think is here to stay even if it evolves to something even less complex it will still be flat as its all about removing unnecessary design elements that detract from the content, I cannot think of a single reason why anyone in their right mind would want to reverse this especially since it works so well.

Edited October 23, 201312 yr by Fuzzy Logic

same as "web 2.0" - gets hijacked as a trend.

 

there may be some very good reasons of using this approach but does it suit your particular message?

 

Web 2.0 was slightly different in that there was little thought put into it. It was all gradients, reflections, shadows and little about designing with a purpose.

 

Flat design has a purpose in that it strips out unwanted UI clutter, creates a cleaner interface and brings prominent content first. In some instances it improves the usability massively. Like anything it gets overused, but it has been around for quite a long time, just look at print design.

I can't see it going anywhere soon... here to stay for sure.

jack - my point was that both ideas were hijacked and turned into trends - web 2.0 was supposed to be about many things but got reduced to shiny pretty things.

 

i think that while i flat design has a lot of good principles behind it it's too reductive to use for any and every site. it's a good solid foundation to build on but like functionalism it's not necessarily the ideal style (or possibly lack of style ) to convey every message. i'm afraid that using textures or gradients to build any kind of personality or contribute thoughtfullt to a particular brand and to create a feeling or atmosphere that adds to a design rather than simply being eye candy will be frowned upon because flat is the new trend. pretty soon everything wil end up flat irrespective of whether or not it suits the message and branding of the site.

 

should i remove all the textures, noise and gradients from my own site because it's not therefore 'modern' or 'trendy' and looking like everone else's site? no don't think so style is content and content is style.

 

choose the style that's appropriate to the message - and leave out anything that's not needed

choose the style that's appropriate to the message - and leave out anything that's not needed

 

Agreed.

Its here to stay, flat design was created by the swiss in the 1950's and is definitely here to stay.

Fuzzy Logic has got a point: Flat design rely quite a lot on the Swiss typographic principles developed by people like Emil Ruder back in the 50's so it's not just a fad.

The principle is just to use two dimensions (no highlights and shadows) and the primary decoration is the typography itself.

Swiss Style and other minimal designs has been coming and going since then. Just take a look at LP covers from different periods you will see plenty of examples on “Flat Design”. (Album covers was really the top media for the progressive designers before the internet and is always worth a study.)

How long the current trend will last is impossible to tell but it will always return again.

 

Minimal designs has always been popular among UI designers but it often conflict with the objectives of marketing -and communication-people as shiny objects by nature attracts attention.

Users will simply hit that “fancy” button instinctively.

Edited October 26, 201312 yr by Nillervision