I think that when this happens in design it's more about looking normal so as to project credibility (so that people will take you seriously/give you money). Th

I think that when this happens in design it's more about looking normal so as to project credibility (so that people will take you seriously/give you money). The important part is not that actual browers/people-spending-money feel this way, but that product owners and designers think they do (and maybe they're right, I don't know, though Kalzumeus' post about the success of the Big Ugly Button makes me think they're at least sometimes wrong). This is what drives web design trend-chasing, when really the old two-or-three-column-header-footer sites of The Distant Past of A Decade Ago were totally fine and often more usable than the "beautiful" crap put out today. But they look "old" so out they go.