Our screens transform from Web 2.0 to the almighty 'Flat'ness

The Day the World went ‘Flat’

As a designer, I try to ignore trends.

But the truth is, I can’t. 

And no one can now that both Windows 8 and IOS 7 have gone “flat”.

Remember those lens flares, drop shadows and gradients that use to fill your screens? You know, all that “oooo…. look at this cool icon that looks 3D”. It’s over man. 

I don’t really like talking about “trends” because their have always been people who design similar to the ‘flat’ aesthetic, myself included.

So, as much as I want to gripe about a trend, I gotta say, I like this one. Overall, I think it will give us all a better user experience by making everything more simple, straightforward and easier to navigate. (although I’ve heard Windows 8 is a nightmare user experience or at least the transition is – not that I’d know I haven’t used a PC in years!) BTW – here’s a nifty video that will show you how to make Win 8 look and act like Win 7, Vista or XP.

Here’s some examples of what I’m yapping about:

Old Facebook Icon vs new Facebook Icon – lens flare drop shadow are gone, baby!:

Same for twitter and they switched to a bird:


And here’s how IOS7 and IOS6 look next to each other…

As you can see, all the icons are less “realistic” looking, they are more abstract and simplified, without drop shadows and that “3Dish” look. Much better in my humble opinion – but don’t worry, if you don’t like it just wait a few years and it’ll all change again! 🙂

 

Photo credit: idigitaltimes.com