Sk-etchbook

I just read an article in .net about current online style trends. It briefly covers the points that following trends is fundamentally flawed because as a designer your aim is to stand out from the competition however it is useful to see what other people are doing for inspirational purposes.

These are a few of the current trends identified:

Supersizing
Massive is in. Sites like www.tumblr.com are given as examples for this approach. Although this technique has been used effectively in print design for years it is only just recently made the transition to web design. The effect is used to grab attention and simplify the key message.

Less is More
Designers are beginning to move away from traditional structures. Casting the rules aside, dropping unnecessary navigational elements, scrapping excessive visual stimuli and moving towards minimalism. Some sites are even deciding to put the entire site onto one long scrolling page rather than using separate pages.

Muted is the new gaudy
"The web 2.0 revolution was characterized by super-saturated, intense colours that brought applications to life". Now however the abundance of this technique has rendered it ineffective. Muted colours are now the designers weapon of choice.

Organic Themes
Web 2.0 sites were filled with rich graphical elements, shiny buttons and badges, glossy effects etc. Why? Well just because we could I suppose. The novelty of this is also beginning to wear off and designers are moving towards creating more natural looking sites which mirror real life. Wood, wallpaper, stone, faux hand drawn fonts.

Solid Colours
More simplicity. Use of areas of solid colours to compliment not distract from your all important content. Sometimes subtle gradients and shadows are also used to give depth.

So Why are these trends deveoping?
Looks like our little web baby is growing up. The loud, revolutionary approach is dying out. The web has proved itself as a useful and effective medium which is here to stay. It has asserted itself and can now relax with a calm confidence.
The sheer complexity and size of the web is causing information overload for the average browser. Web sites need to streamline their message, move "just in case" content to a place where it can be found by only the viewers looking for that content. An ineffective culture had developed of over thinking, generating pages which contain content for every eventuality. This is a good method if the end user is only going to view your site but we live in the goole era. Search listings rule so imagine taking all the door handles in your house and nailing them to your front door because there is a slight possibility someone will want to use one of them? Seems silly doesn't it. Finally on this point, imagine if all the houses in your street were having an open house day, inviting the public to peruse your "casa ideal". Now I don't know about you but if I came to your house and had to work my way through a dozen handles to get in I'd just go next door and be deprived the pleasures of your flock wallpaper and finest mahogany furniture.
So to sum up loud has a purpose but needs to be put in it's place. Web is relaxing, web is integrating, web is mature. Colour is toned down and gives the impression of confidence, reliability and comforts the user rather than shaking & slapping them.

I've commented before on my approach to web design and the need for making the complicated simple, it seems this concept of mine is also shared by the web design industry. Web design is moving towards achieving Shibumi.

The web is incredibly vast and contains phenomenal amounts of information. People aren't stupid (well most people) they are however impatient and do need subtle encouragement to look in the right places.