Architecture’s been Designing longer than the hip trends.
I think the only difference between online design trends and the BAMFs of Architecture and Design is typography. Otherwise, the latest and greatest of online/mobile/responsive/flat/blahblah designs can finally recognize they aren’t inventing anything. Architecture brought tangible design to us with thin lines, hip angles, bold colors, mixed materials, and novel statements of intent decades ago.
Why are we arguing if Apple sucks more or less than Google or Microsoft for their design? If you don’t like it, blame the grandfathers of minimalism. Tell Mr. Wright to take his earth tones and shove it. Tell Corbusier his French sucks. I don’t think we would. They are quite respected, no?
Instead, let’s not even focus on the trends and expecting every designer to be worthwhile if they adhere to them. Let’s focus on why thin lines, bold colors, cool materials, and novel intent may actually change how we see our digital worlds.
How do we do that? First, to know where you come from (Cajun pride baby!). Architecture isn’t the first creative design endeavor, but it’s a monolith to start studying. When walls, lights, windows, support structures all started to disappear, building interiors changed. Interior design changed. Engineering changed. Home-dwellers change how they stored food, created privacy so moms and dads could have sex, decorated nooks so nature came into the home instead of shutting it outside. Flat colors dissolved walls and structures to keep the focus on the use of a room or even just a piece of furniture.
All you need is a lamp.
And maybe you hate all this flatness. Maybe you hate the “old” skeumorphic designs of yester-year. But one thing we can know, when we understand where we came from, is that the cyclical resurgance of an idea means it’s worthwhile. We liked flat in architecture. We liked realistic in digital. We then disliked some parts of flat in digital.
What we should all realize is the obvious ligitimacy of every kind of design especially when nothing is new. So then, it’s not a trend that makes us good designers, it’s our roots. It’s the way we solve the problem and make beautiful things, period. Thin lines, thick lines, bold colors, light colors, flat or real — make a good design and no one should criticize what you make, but why!
The only thing anyone would be able to say is, “Wow, that design only works because it’s thin/thick/bold/light/flat/real. Wonderful!”