"The cues are a result of depth. You have given them up, by-definition when you use a flat design." Except that flat designs aren't defined as eliminating dept

"The cues are a result of depth. You have given them up, by-definition when you use a flat design." Except that flat designs aren't defined as eliminating depth cues. The simply do not rely on them so much or demand additional cues. The Flat Design Church does tolerate depth, and many "flat designs"include some notion of planar layout. It's just that depth cues aren't supposed to be primary cues in a flat design. And for good reason. Depth cues are often very subtle and increasingly UX needs to be good even when looking at a dim screen under bright sunlight. The advent of mobile is demanding designers start going high contrast, and so flat design is an obvious choice. It is, ultimately, a phase. People have reverted to the simplest solutions for more visually rugged UIs, but we're starting to see a new and more nuanced set of visual grammars emerge.