Web Trends: Flat Design Is In
When I see the term “flat” it suggest that the design practice is somehow simple, with the idea of it being the ultra-minimal and following the less is more ideology. But as many of us have learned, restraint is hard and elegance doesn’t come easy.
Microsoft took this approach when they released Windows 8 by having icons without any embellishments: no bevel, no 3-D flourishes, no glossiness and no drop shadow. It was a welcoming alternative to the standard skeuomorphic designs.
Loosely speaking, skeuomorphism means "making stuff look as if it is made of something else". When computers and their user interfaces were new to everyone, skeumorphism was a tool used to established symbolic consistency, a mental aid, from the real world into the digital. I think it should be safe to say that we have reached the point of technological literacy.
Flat design, in practice, has been around for a long time as it can be commonly found in print. However, the flat design practices have shifted to user interfaces, the web and mobile. So what happened to the collective consciousness that caused a shift in design, where solid colours and typography now became the focus?
Reduction of Clutter
The amount of information that is available to us at our fingertips today is profound. We are a connected culture; we are constantly evaluating, sharing, filtering and creating content. Add in the fact that a lot of us are retrieving our information on smaller screens exacerbates the feeling of information overload. We want the information we need without an intrusive interface competing for our attention.
Content Remains King
When new devices and technologies enter the market, we become fascinated by what they can do and how we can advance interactivity. This frenzy is usually followed by a return to a focus on content and more so than ever, typography.
Web fonts used to mean a handful popular print fonts that were digitized for the screen. Meaning, what looked good in print was optimized for web use. However, this practice failed to shine in pixels.
Font foundries such as: @font-face, Hoefler & Frere-Jones and Adobe are all creating in-browser web fonts that are built for any and all screens. As screen size and pixel density continue to increase on mobile devices, thinner and smaller type can be presented with better clarity.
Technological Adoption & Responsive Design
With the rapid increase of connected devices in various dimension; the needs and criteria for a user interfaces has to change. The user interfaces being built today need to become more fluid, they need to adapt and display content in their appropriate size. The responsive design movement has responded. Responsive design does not necessarily call for a particular aesthetic, however, flat design takes to responsive design more easily than many other styles.
Site Speed
A major issue with any site is how fast it loads. The concept of minimal design ties in the reduction of page weight. Lets face it, the bevels and drop shadows are not exactly the best solution if you are looking to decrease your load times.
