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It’s been dubbed “digital brutalist” [1] style; as a rejection of the “streamlined, flat” designs of the last decade. Style evolves; Snap is targeting a younger

It’s been dubbed “digital brutalist” [1] style; as a rejection of the “streamlined, flat” designs of the last decade. Style evolves; Snap is targeting a younger demographic and the best way to say “we’re not Facebook or google; we’re cooler” is to reject all their design principles. [1] https://envato.com/blog/brutalism-ugly-web-design-trend-taking-internet/amp/ https://envato.com/blog/brutalism-ugly-web-design-trend-taki...

dragonwriter 8y ago
> Snap is targeting a younger demographic The design makes it look more like they are targeting a demographic nostalgic for the worst of late 1990s design atrocities.
- mustacheemperor 8y ago
  Member of the younger demographic here. It happens that many of us adore late 1990s design atrocities. Not sure I'd use that particular visual language in an enterprise website, but I think the reasoning is valid.
  - jgh 8y ago
    ah then you guys would have loved my home page back in 1998. Pretty sure I used this exact color scheme, although I think I had a really horrible logo in there too.
    - wtvanhest 8y ago
      In fairness, in 1998 the people designing sites were the "younger generation"
- exelius 8y ago
  Design is cyclical in about 30 year cycles. Grunge is back in. Everything ugly is beautiful again.
  - lwansbrough 8y ago
    > Grunge is back in. Keep it.
  - dakna 8y ago
    I recently learned Doc Martens boots are fashionable again. Makes me regret throwing my pair away in the 90s. Yes, I'm old. But at least back then they were all made in Great Britain.
    - tlarkworthy 8y ago
      Jesus, I remembered my Dad saying the same thing in the 90s about his boots from the 60s.
    - exelius 8y ago
      Yep; docs, ripped jeans and flannel are all really fashionable right now. Feels like high school.
- pavlov 8y ago
  Fashion moves reliably in cycles of twenty years. It's entirely expected that 1998's visual styling looks fresh again in 2018, always filtered through an ironic-nostalgic lens of varying density.
  - dragonwriter 8y ago
    > Fashion moves reliably in cycles of twenty years. It's entirely expected that 1998's visual styling looks fresh again in 2018, But it's 1998s bad amateur design, which didn't look fresh in 1998, either.
    - pavlov 8y ago
      To me, the Yellow site doesn't really look like an old website at all because HTML's creative possibilities have changed — typography, layout options, etc. However it does look like a lot like print design from circa 1994-98. Wide font variants for all copy, strong contrast with primary colors, and so on.
scrumption 8y ago
It looks like garbage.
romuloab42 8y ago
I wish they were true to the cause, and used black on white, the most brutalist anything could ever be.
CrystalLangUser 8y ago
People keep on misusing "brutalist". This isn't brutalist whatsoever, it's anti-design. [1] [1]: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/brutalism-antidesign/ https://www.nngroup.com/articles/brutalism-antidesign/

dragonwriter 8y ago

> Snap is targeting a younger demographic The design makes it look more like they are targeting a demographic nostalgic for the worst of late 1990s design atrocities.

mustacheemperor 8y ago
Member of the younger demographic here. It happens that many of us adore late 1990s design atrocities. Not sure I'd use that particular visual language in an enterprise website, but I think the reasoning is valid.
- jgh 8y ago
  ah then you guys would have loved my home page back in 1998. Pretty sure I used this exact color scheme, although I think I had a really horrible logo in there too.
  - wtvanhest 8y ago
    In fairness, in 1998 the people designing sites were the "younger generation"
exelius 8y ago
Design is cyclical in about 30 year cycles. Grunge is back in. Everything ugly is beautiful again.
- lwansbrough 8y ago
  > Grunge is back in. Keep it.
- dakna 8y ago
  I recently learned Doc Martens boots are fashionable again. Makes me regret throwing my pair away in the 90s. Yes, I'm old. But at least back then they were all made in Great Britain.
  - tlarkworthy 8y ago
    Jesus, I remembered my Dad saying the same thing in the 90s about his boots from the 60s.
  - exelius 8y ago
    Yep; docs, ripped jeans and flannel are all really fashionable right now. Feels like high school.
pavlov 8y ago
Fashion moves reliably in cycles of twenty years. It's entirely expected that 1998's visual styling looks fresh again in 2018, always filtered through an ironic-nostalgic lens of varying density.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > Fashion moves reliably in cycles of twenty years. It's entirely expected that 1998's visual styling looks fresh again in 2018, But it's 1998s bad amateur design, which didn't look fresh in 1998, either.
  - pavlov 8y ago
    To me, the Yellow site doesn't really look like an old website at all because HTML's creative possibilities have changed — typography, layout options, etc. However it does look like a lot like print design from circa 1994-98. Wide font variants for all copy, strong contrast with primary colors, and so on.

scrumption 8y ago

It looks like garbage.

romuloab42 8y ago

I wish they were true to the cause, and used black on white, the most brutalist anything could ever be.

CrystalLangUser 8y ago

People keep on misusing "brutalist". This isn't brutalist whatsoever, it's anti-design. [1] [1]: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/brutalism-antidesign/ https://www.nngroup.com/articles/brutalism-antidesign/