New style of Website becoming popular

[richinri]

I am posting this here and in the web design forum since it covers both graphics and web design. From what I am reading, this is a new style becoming popular perhaps due to tablet/phones tile designs.

http://www.hotscripts.com/blog/whats-fuss-flat-design/

[gwpriester]

Sketch has been designing websites like this for a long time.

[steve.ledger]

Probably be of more use in the Web Chat area as this is about web 'design' aesthetics.
Unlikely to be of much interest for folks who read this section and are not interested in creating websites.

Edit: Ok, I see this is a duplicated thread.

[gwpriester]

I already moved it. There and back. Though I agree with sledger.

[richinri]

Since I fail to see a website that does not include graphics and given Xara is now both a graphics and web page program, I find this distinction confusing.

[graphicsfactory]

Since I fail to see a website that does not include graphics and given Xara is now both a graphics and web page program, I find this distinction confusing.

There are certainly websites without graphics. But, that is really not the point, in regards to distinction. Unfortunately, most web designers are new and have little to no experience in the print and graphics world. I've been involved in print since the early '80s, LONG before computers and WYSIWYG. In fact, I doubt many even know what that means now, because it is the norm. Computers then, were used to set type. You entered the text, and code to conform the type to a page. I first started in digital graphics with CorelDraw v3, Aldus Freehand, Aldus Paint and Aldus Pagemaker. I'm sure, some reading are thinking, "who's Aldus?" Xara X was a leap forward. I was very excited when Xara Xtreme (I think correct version,) included the ability to create web pages. Certainly, times have changed. Popular styles and colors evolve endlessly and quickly. But, the limitations of both print and web graphics, are VERY different, which influence the design. The craftsmanship and care that it once took to create a printed piece, were works of art in themselves. Now, everything disposable. Others may not see a distinction, it is blurry. But, for some of us, the difference is quite distinct and clear.

[angelize]

I think it's fine to discuss Flat Design in this forum. Flat design can be used for more than just websites. So does anyone have a sample of a flat design they have created? perhaps a business card or poster or something else?

[steve.ledger]

Then the thread title is misleading.

[Cloud]

There seems to be more discussion here than the other thread in web design so I thought I would paste here. As someone who started graphic design at the age of 16 or so (Ventura and Pagemaker) and then coreldraw in 1989 (I helped the teachers in grammar school in learning about computers) and the very first design I ever did which made me some money was for a clothes shop called jean junction, I designed it in coreldraw, printed it on a hp laserjet and then handed it over to a printer in town and he printed it off, I remember that I got the printing, called a taxi and took it to the customer, told the taxi to wait and then took £600 in cash, took the taxi back to the printer, gave him £120, paid the taxi and caught the bus back home - this was in 1989 and I was in school so you can imagine that almost £500 profit was a hell of a lot of money back then, especially to a 17 year old.

Anyway the reason for the story is that that very first design I did for pay was what would be considered a flat design (simply because any other type of design was not really possible back then), and to this day I tell all the designers we employ out of college/university that the way to design anything, print or web is type in the content the client wants and arrange it so that it looks nice and legible and then start on the design part; colours, typeography etc. because out of uni they think that they have to spend a day or two trying to create a design first and then start putting the content together.

I think it is quite appropriate for a discussion on flat design to be about both print and web.

That is what I believe what people are calling 'flat' design is all about, it is simply good design cut down to the basics and in such a way as to look good. It is not merely solid colours and boxes (metro etc) or simplified icons. I have been doing this sort of thing for the last 20 or so years and the fact is that things like skeuomorphism have come and gone many times during that period but the one design type which has always existed is that 'flat' design and if you think about it the greatest design icons have been flat design, whether it is nike's swoosh or the brilliant posters from the 50's and 60's - As an example I give you Birds.

[Big Frank]

skeck youre right
look at loads of movie posters from 50 and 60s
there is nothing new about flat design
its just that only designers did it in those days
now everybodys jumping on the bandwagon
like gary said in another thread its just a trend
it xwill waxe and wane

i rememebr i worked in london many many years ago and i noticed the met police were changing all the logos on theiur cars and vans
i wondered why then and i still wonder why now, but they did and that was ages ago