Roger’s $0.02 - The End of Flat Design (Patreon)

As we come to the end of another year, it's tradition for a column writer to reflect back on the events that made up the previous 11 months in the final column. But because I’m a bit ambivalent about tradition I’ve decided to close out 2023 with a focus on the end of a design trend. The end of Flat Design.

Public tastes and styles change roughly every ten years. It’s why we assign certain designs and aesthetic choices to different decades.  And when a style that so dominates much of our world begins its fade into obsolescence we need to pour one out and make a few final remarks. And so I say goodbye to Flat Design.

What is Flat Design? Flat design is a minimalist design language where only critical elements needed to convey the message are included. The idea is that Flat Design allows information to be more quickly processed and acted upon by a user through simpler iconography and a restrained color palette. Think Blackletter/Gothic script font vs Typewriter font. Flat Design is based on the International Typographic Style, but its popularity can mostly be attributed to Microsoft’s use of its tiled Metro Design Language in Windows 8 and Zune starting in the late-2000s. Google and Apple subsequently used elements of the design language within their own operating systems. So popular has Flat Design become it’s made its way to other consumer products like food packaging and instruction manuals.

Yet Flat Design was not without its critics. Some complained the style’s utilitarian form abrogated any sense of character and metaphoric depth. On the more practical side, critics complained it made everything look the same. Users couldn’t tell if they were looking at a message, indicator, or button, inhibiting effective navigation of a UI. Ironically, its creation was a reaction against Skeuomorphism. In the Skeuomorphic design language an object or user interface mimics or tries to retain elements of their real-world counterpart. Think of the original iPhone interface. Buttons looked like glass beads and app icons had weight and texture. While pretty to look at, the design made the interface inconsistent and confusing making the entire user experience more confusing.

So if Flat Design is going away and Skeuomorphic had its run, what comes next? Most likely some combination of the two. A middle ground where Skeuomorphic can help round out the utilitarian function of Flat Design so interfaces are more easily understood by a wide range of users. A sort of clean-sheet design incorporating both styles. Which would be a good way to start off a new year.