Really, what we are saying when it comes down to it, is that design choices are a form of communication. Staying 'modern' with your design is a decent shorthand

Really, what we are saying when it comes down to it, is that design choices are a form of communication. Staying 'modern' with your design is a decent shorthand for communicating a certain level of competence to your audience. I do wish that designers would look at it more broadly though. Perhaps it is not fair to compare web to print since print has had a longer history to draw from, but one of the things that I appreciate about print media is there is never just one 'go-to' style so fads don't get as tiresome because they rarely are pervasive.