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I think it is also hard to be aware that you are in a trend when you are living it. Many of the things that pass as "clean design" at the moment are just a tren

I think it is also hard to be aware that you are in a trend when you are living it. Many of the things that pass as "clean design" at the moment are just a trend, and I promise you that they will look dated soon. This always happens. It happened with 80s hair, with 90s androgyny and it will happen again big text, extreme minimalist, big poetic photo backgrounds and so on.

jonnathanson 13y ago
I'm half convinced that we're seeing the result of a brilliant conspiracy by Getty Images, Shutterstock and Corbis to infiltrate the design landscape of Silicon Valley and sell more stock photography. Also: the Golden Gate needs a better agent. Given how many times that bridge has appeared in photo backdrops, it should be rich enough by now to stretch further into Marin.
- akgerber 13y ago
  Apparently the CEO of Shutterstock is NYC's first tech billionaire: http://www.forbes.com/sites/edwindurgy/2013/06/28/oh-snap-shutterstock-founder-jon-oringer-is-a-billionaire/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/edwindurgy/2013/06/28/oh-snap-sh...
  - jonnathanson 13y ago
    All kidding aside, he's an impressive businessman. Evidently Shutterstock was bootstrapped for a large portion of its 10-year existence -- which is interesting, considering the size and capitalization of the entrenched players it was going up against. http://jonoringer.com/2013/05/28/go-as-long-as-possible-without-taking-venture-capital/ http://jonoringer.com/2013/05/28/go-as-long-as-possible-with...
incision 13y ago
Exactly. The author is conflating two things which don't necessarily have any bearing on each other - equating fickle trends in design to mastery. Flat icons, low-contrast fonts, parallax scrolls or whatever else are not necessarily an evolution in, much less mastery of web design.
- estel 13y ago
  I'm not quite sure it's quite the same as saying that Western designers have "mastered" the web, but my memories of Japanese websites from ten years ago are remarkably similar to how they look today. It seems more relevant that web design in the East hasn't evolved or changed over that period, when western design has.
  - alipang 13y ago
    Yeah, and current trends aside, surely the current design landscape in the Western world has more in common with traditional Japanese art and architecture, than does Japanese web design as it looks today, just as this article suggests.
joyeuse6701 13y ago
Arguable, some things cease to be a trend and really end up being classic design, and thus, timeless.
cclogg 13y ago
I agree with this, but I guess many Asian websites do feel like they're stuck in a 1998 trend. Actually this also seems to apply to music too... when I hear my Taiwanese friends' music, it seems like it still hasn't escaped boy-band era (1998?).
- coldtea 13y ago
  >when I hear my Taiwanese friends' music, it seems like it still hasn't escaped boy-band era 1998 might have been "boy-band era" for YOUR culture. Not for everyone in the world. The have their own culture, they don't have to escape to some current trend in the USA.
- toyg 13y ago
  Like "the West" had escaped anything… Justin Bieber? JLS? Even goddamn Take That are still outselling everyone else except newer manufactured pop acts. People in glass houses should not throw stones.
  - cclogg 13y ago
    Haha sorry my bad, that is definitely true, but I meant the sound of that era, not boy-bands in general.
- EdiX 13y ago
  Two words: "One Direction". No one will ever escape the boy-band era.
- sanskritabelt 13y ago
  The 'boy band era' has been going since for-freaking-ever. Hey hey, they were the Monkees.
spader725 13y ago
"clean design" has been around since the 20th century. It just went away, but came back, and it will go away again and will most likely come back again. So yes, design is in trends, just like any other field has trends, but "clean design" has pretty good odds to come back again. 90s grunge design.....not so likely.
- toyg 13y ago
  We might have different concepts of what "90s grunge design" is, but I'd place it squarely in the bucolic/naturalistic/romantic/bohemian tradition, something harking back to a time when geometry (Mother of clean design) hadn't been discovered yet. So I'd say the odds of an eventual comeback are quite high.
msutherl 13y ago
This article sheds some light on your claim: http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2013/11/07/ux-and-the-civilizing-process/ http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2013/11/07/ux-and-the-civilizing-p...

jonnathanson 13y ago

I'm half convinced that we're seeing the result of a brilliant conspiracy by Getty Images, Shutterstock and Corbis to infiltrate the design landscape of Silicon Valley and sell more stock photography. Also: the Golden Gate needs a better agent. Given how many times that bridge has appeared in photo backdrops, it should be rich enough by now to stretch further into Marin.

akgerber 13y ago
Apparently the CEO of Shutterstock is NYC's first tech billionaire: http://www.forbes.com/sites/edwindurgy/2013/06/28/oh-snap-shutterstock-founder-jon-oringer-is-a-billionaire/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/edwindurgy/2013/06/28/oh-snap-sh...
- jonnathanson 13y ago
  All kidding aside, he's an impressive businessman. Evidently Shutterstock was bootstrapped for a large portion of its 10-year existence -- which is interesting, considering the size and capitalization of the entrenched players it was going up against. http://jonoringer.com/2013/05/28/go-as-long-as-possible-without-taking-venture-capital/ http://jonoringer.com/2013/05/28/go-as-long-as-possible-with...

incision 13y ago

Exactly. The author is conflating two things which don't necessarily have any bearing on each other - equating fickle trends in design to mastery. Flat icons, low-contrast fonts, parallax scrolls or whatever else are not necessarily an evolution in, much less mastery of web design.

estel 13y ago
I'm not quite sure it's quite the same as saying that Western designers have "mastered" the web, but my memories of Japanese websites from ten years ago are remarkably similar to how they look today. It seems more relevant that web design in the East hasn't evolved or changed over that period, when western design has.
- alipang 13y ago
  Yeah, and current trends aside, surely the current design landscape in the Western world has more in common with traditional Japanese art and architecture, than does Japanese web design as it looks today, just as this article suggests.

joyeuse6701 13y ago

Arguable, some things cease to be a trend and really end up being classic design, and thus, timeless.

cclogg 13y ago

I agree with this, but I guess many Asian websites do feel like they're stuck in a 1998 trend. Actually this also seems to apply to music too... when I hear my Taiwanese friends' music, it seems like it still hasn't escaped boy-band era (1998?).

coldtea 13y ago
>when I hear my Taiwanese friends' music, it seems like it still hasn't escaped boy-band era 1998 might have been "boy-band era" for YOUR culture. Not for everyone in the world. The have their own culture, they don't have to escape to some current trend in the USA.
toyg 13y ago
Like "the West" had escaped anything… Justin Bieber? JLS? Even goddamn Take That are still outselling everyone else except newer manufactured pop acts. People in glass houses should not throw stones.
- cclogg 13y ago
  Haha sorry my bad, that is definitely true, but I meant the sound of that era, not boy-bands in general.
EdiX 13y ago
Two words: "One Direction". No one will ever escape the boy-band era.
sanskritabelt 13y ago
The 'boy band era' has been going since for-freaking-ever. Hey hey, they were the Monkees.

spader725 13y ago

"clean design" has been around since the 20th century. It just went away, but came back, and it will go away again and will most likely come back again. So yes, design is in trends, just like any other field has trends, but "clean design" has pretty good odds to come back again. 90s grunge design.....not so likely.

toyg 13y ago
We might have different concepts of what "90s grunge design" is, but I'd place it squarely in the bucolic/naturalistic/romantic/bohemian tradition, something harking back to a time when geometry (Mother of clean design) hadn't been discovered yet. So I'd say the odds of an eventual comeback are quite high.

msutherl 13y ago

This article sheds some light on your claim: http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2013/11/07/ux-and-the-civilizing-process/ http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2013/11/07/ux-and-the-civilizing-p...