Have you noticed that over the years, design has seemingly gotten simpler and a little… flat? Just as we were getting used to the advancement in web and app development with more complex designs, they’ve suddenly taken a more straightforward design. Minimalism has been a real trend in design across a wide variety of disciplines: architecture, interior design, even computer customization has fallen for this trend for minimal flat design. Of course, web & app design hasn’t gotten away from this trend. UX interface design has become a prime example of a trend that has taken over and has begun to overstay its welcome. The style originally was fresh & clean, and reminded us of a simplier times of yesteryear, however, now that everyone has jumped on the bandwagon without anyone getting off, we’re left with everything feeling boring and well, flat. We have potential to create lavish 3D visual graphic designs but yet we’re all opting for the same flat design. It’s time for this trend to be over.
So before we can dive into the whys and why nots of flat design, first we need to know what flat design is. Surely as a technology user in 2017, you’ve seen flat design. But what is it? As explained on oho.com,
“ As a formal definition, flat design is the style of interface design without any stylistic elements that give the illusion of three dimensions, putting an immediate focus on the minimalist use of simple elements, typography, and flat colors.”
So the main features are 2 dimensionality, minimalism, and less focus on excessive style. Initially, flat design has great intentions for UX development. It focuses on color, shape, and most importantly content. We’ve all seen this style before. Remember how Apple’s IOS looked on iPhones? Here’s IOS 6:
Then Apple hopped on the flat design train with IOS 7.
Notice how the icons lost their depth? It’s best seen with the icons at the bottom. The shading is different, they lost their drop shadow, and the colors became much simpler. Apple released IOS 7 in 2013, which is when the flat design craze was in full swing. An even stronger example of a large company making the call to go flat was Microsoft. Here’s Windows 7 desktop & start:
And then in 2012 they went with a total redesign of their operating system’s look with Windows 8.
The change is clearly drastic, and really showcases what flat design is all about. Icons are less shapley, items are mono — color, with those colors typically being bolder and brighter without shading. Sure it was a breath of fresh air, it was strangely nostalgic, and while it looks like it emphasized usability, since damn near everyone wanted to do flat design we’ve become over — saturated with flat design and we’re left wanting more out of nearly everything on the web. It wasn’t just interfaces, but advertising, graphic design, and nearly everything else that could be online; they all had to follow suit with the design trend of websites and UX design just to avoid looking out of place. It’s been several years since the craze of flat design started, and while still going strong, it is not without its critics. They criticize flat design for being boring, for it stalling innovation, and has kept designers locked into a style they may not want to work with and be forced to work with a style that might not function.
It seemed reactionary to Skeuomorphism, the design concept of making items represented resemble their real-world counterparts, that eventually we would want something a little more simple. Enter the minimalism that is Flat Design. In a world where we are often overloaded with information, devices, and technology, it is no shock there was a call to make digital counterparts look so much more simple than their analog counterparts while still retaining all usability. People loved it, as nearly everyone in the tech world seemed to hop onto the trend. No more overload, the simplicity allows us to breathe. But like any trend, if it stays around for too long without receiving updates in the right direction, the trend begins to focus on the too much on the tiny details that make it what it is and forgets about other aspects. Flat Design and it’s focus on minimalism has left our digital world feeling like an empty barren wasteland where once we felt there was a world of possibility of design, we’re left with something bland. Jesse Smith, UX Designer in Residence for General Assembly a company dedicated to educating users on web design, writes: “ When flat design first started emerging, it was praised as ‘clean’ and ’fresh.’ Of course, now that everything is flat, the web feels like a relatively sparse, boring place.” Minimalism & flat design were initially welcomed because they felt like a break from the clutter of overwhelming web design, as a user you felt like you were experiencing something hip, something that an interior decorator in New York City would like. You could appreciate the designers realizing that usability was the main focus. You were drawn into the design because you could easily recognize that the important features were highlighted in the design. The brighter, bold colors really set whatever tone the designer wanted. But somewhere along the way, the goals of flat design were lost. Products were being created with the trendy flat design, and with a world of possibilities, with everyone doing the minimalistic design, us as users are left with a feeling of emptiness. Minimalism is fine as we’re always trying to overwhelm our users, but there’s a fine line between minimalism, and too much minimalism. In a rush to to be the most minimal, we’re being counterintuitive to who we are as designers. We want to wow people, and I have to ask, is showing as little as possible the way to do that? Unfortunately for flat design, many of its pro can also be seen as cons in the eyes of people. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and flat design can’t escape that. As the Katalyst Creative Group lays out in an infographic included in the article “Today’s Modern Website Flat Design Trend is Not Necessarily the Best for Your Business”, what may look good to one person could be seen as a negative to another.
Whether the design of the infographic was to be flat for ironic purposes or not, it does show the critiques it lays out well. And that’s what is important here, if flat design is everywhere, and it has problems such as being boring, lacking personality, or making things unclear as to what is clickable; it is worth asking, it this what we want out of our interfaces?
With everyone doing the same thing, we’ve once again gone against who we are as innovators. Another argument against flat design and the lasting trend it has created is it has stalled innovation in UX design. John Ince, Founder & Chief Technical Officer of Project Peach writes, “Flat design came into popularity due to familiarization with the systems and products we now see. As we move forward with a product it becomes familiar: our knowledge is there and graphic tools are no longer required to aid our use, then and only then can a more flat design be used. So to us, a totally flat design is an indicator of familiarity which is a result from a lack of innovation! Flat design is by definition boring…” The things that help make flat design great, are also what problematic. Flat design relies on our familiarity, instead of meticulous detail. Flat design takes advantage of colors that we know will elicit certain emotional responses, such as red making users feel power or youthfulness, and green giving the users impressions of financial gain or environmental themes. While these quick recollections into our subconscious are convenient, we’ve become too complacent in our design. But the problem goes further. Flat designs must rely on color & contrast as the indicator of interaction in the interface. Colors have their meanings and lead to certain physiological reactions. Now someone developing with flat design has to do a balancing act of creating something that looks nice, is clear on what is interactive, while balancing physiological reactions of colors AND balancing the contrast and complementary colors. The working towards simplicity, minimalism, and striving for 2D in a 3D world, we’ve slowed down our innovation for UX design. If you need any proof look no further than the Webby Awards. Yearly awards given to those who excel in web, social, advertising, anything digital on the web. Look at the “Best Interface Design” category over the past few years, and all the nominees predominately feature flat design. Even in 2017, 4 years after flat design peaked with Apple in 2013, it’s still the dominant design force. For an industry that prides itself on innovation and regularly changing it seems odd that something so essential is so static. Flat Design has made us complacent in its simplicity. The issue with flat design is that it has become too universally accepted as the default. We’re at a point in which creativity is being stifled in preference of sticking to a template that works. The web has lost its wow factor and the trend has stalled our progress in creating the next thing to wow us.
With Flat Design still being so trendy, developers are often stuck working with a design they might not want to work with, and that design itself might not work either. As a user experience expert at Nielsen Norman Group, Kate Meyer asks about Flat Design, “How desperately do you want to be perceived as cool? What are you going to sacrifice to achieve it?” If a design doesn’t ultimately work, why use it? Kate Meyer did a study to research how users interact with flat design, and she observed something odd: While young people seemed faster at navigating the designs, they also felt they didn’t really understand the UI all too well. In fact she compared the process to lab rats.
“This behavior is analogous to the behavior of laboratory rats in operant-conditioning experiments: If a rat gets a food pellet at random intervals after performing a specific action, the rat will keep doing that action in the hope of getting fed again. Similarly, users have discovered that clicking elements that don’t have strong signifiers sometimes works. Like the lab rats, users will stick to random clicking as long as they get rewarded from time to time.”
They’ve created a term for this phenomenon calling it Click Uncertainty. Ironic that in a design trend that prides itself on emphasizing usability, that it actually causes more strain on the user. A study done by researchers at the Normal Nielsen Group backs up her claim. In comparison to skeuomorphism design, websites with flat design “ users spent 22% more time to complete tasks, and looked at 25% more items ie. were having to look at more items to identify which ones were navigational elements and were less confident even when they located them.” The heatmap provided below gives us a visual representation of how users on flat design spend more time on less important parts of the page, such as the footer.
Flat design often lacks signifiers, subtle clues to help users understand the interface. In the old days of rampant skeuomorphism and realism in web design, users were generally able to rely on obvious — but often ugly — signifiers of clickability (such as glossy, raised effects on buttons, or inset shadows that made input fields appear empty). “Even though these signifiers varied from site to site, users could usually rely upon two assumptions: elements with strong signifiers were probably clickable and elements without strong signifiers were probably not clickable.” — Nielsen Norman Group. Flat design often has weak signifiers or sometimes is absent of signifiers leading to confusion, and wasted time & effort on the user’s end.
With skeuomorphism users generally had a good idea what to click on, what actions would happen, and what wouldn’t work. Now, with flat design getting rid of a hierarchy of interactive design, we’re left wondering “Could this be an action? Is this clickable?” The Normal Nielsen Group wrote on their findings, “These findings all suggest that with weak signifiers, users are getting less of that feeling of empowerment and decisiveness. They’re experiencing click uncertainty.” As UX interface designers, our goal has been to consistently work towards creating more user friendly designs that makes people feel as if operating their devices is a breeze, and to leave them with impressions of happiness by completing their tasks without frustration, and yet, flat design goes against that. With the trend remaining strong, we’re alienating our users from achieving what goals & tasks they want with as much as efficiency as they’d like. It’s a vicious cycle we’re currently in. Designers are stuck working with a design that’s not necessarily effective, or worse, goes along with their artistic style, and users are stuck with interfaces that may be confusing, bland, or ineffective. So why are we still doing this? Why are we all being flat when we can be dynamic?
Flat Design was cool when it first burst onto the scene. We were applauding it’s fresh take on interface design. We loved its promise to focus on usability, and it’s unique take on what was once a world hell — bent on creating everything 3D to match the real world counterparts. But it since has spiraled out of control and we’re stuck in limbo. With such a sharp focus on Flat Design we’ve become static and flat ourselves. The craze has left the web bland & empty, it has stalled innovation, and it doesn’t always work as well as we would want. It’s time to round up our designers and get out of this trend. For the sake of UX interface design, it’s time to hop off the bandwagon and create something fresh once again. Flat Design is overrated, and we need something new.
Works Cited:
Banzon, Dorothy. “Today’s Modern Website Flat Design Trend is Not Necessarily the Best for Your Business.” Katalyst Creative Group, Katalyst Creative Group, 3 Apr. 2014, www.katalystcreativegroup.com/blog/182-website-flat-design.html. Accessed 9 Nov. 2017.
Campbell — Dollaghan, Kelsey. “The Problem With Flat Design, According To A UX Expert.” FastCodeDesign.com, 23 Mar. 2016, https://www.fastcodesign.com/3058094/the-problem-with-flat-design-according-to-a-ux-expert. Accessed 9 Nov. 2017.
Devine, Corey. “Explained in 60 Seconds: Flat Design.” Oho, Oho Interactive, 6 Oct. 2016, https://www.oho.com/blog/explained-60-seconds-flat-design. Accessed 9 Nov. 2017.
Faller, Patrick. Adobe Creative Cloud Blog, Adobe, 28 Apr. 2016, https://blogs.adobe.com/creativecloud/experts-weigh-in-is-flat-design-making-the-web-boring/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2017.
McGough, Oliver. “Flat Design Is Going Too Far.” Usabilla Blog, 27 Feb. 2014, blog.usabilla.com/flat-design-going-far/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2017.
Meyer, Kate. “Long-Term Exposure to Flat Design: How the Trend Slowly Decreases User Efficiency.” Nielson Norman Group, 8 Nov. 2015,
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/flat-design-long-exposure/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2017.
Surur. “Science proves Flat Design was a mistake.” MSPowerUser, 6 Sept. 2016, https://mspoweruser.com/science-proves-flat-design-mistake/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2017.
