Assuming that old is on the left and new is on the right: #1: victim of 'flat design' fad #2: another victim of 'flat design' - remember when 'shine' was the

Assuming that old is on the left and new is on the right: #1: victim of 'flat design' fad #2: another victim of 'flat design' - remember when 'shine' was the fashion? we now have 'shine fatigue' #3: i18n version works for all languages, plus any day that is not Monday the 4th #4: which is better depends on use case #5: newer icon has much clearer semantics. old icon looks pretty... but doesn't suggest 'adding' (assuming both icons are meant to mean the same thing) It seems to me that fashion is more responsible for the changing in icon than an erosion of skill. Certainly for #3, more thought and effort went into the icon on the right. We will soon move on from flat design, and people will claim that the next fashion trend is now the 'best ever'...