Falling for Flat: Learning From Design Trends

We mean visual content made entirely of two-dimensional lines, shapes, and colors, without the use of shadows, gradients, or other techniques employed to make imagery appear dimensional. Flat design’s emergence as the dominant user interface design language was initially born of a desire to create “Digitally Authentic” experiences.   Dimensionality in digital design was initially introduced to lead the user to take certain actions. For example, if buttons on websites appear pushable, we’re more likely to click on them; if fields that look recessed or shallow appear fillable, then we’re more likely to type in them. Earlier websites, lovingly called Web 1.0, tended to trade on this desire for dimensionality with dramatic effect—recall the large rotating multi-colored text of the mid-2000’s that populated so many DIY websites—which has now become cool again thanks to post-irony and cool-kid design trends in fashion, food, and music. Naturally, the pendulum had to swing and swing it did. In the past five-to-ten years we’ve seen a near-dominance of flat minimalism.   A friend and colleague of ours once called this fetishization of simplicity the “nobody in here is allowed to fart” effect of design, when the layout or actual content is so clean—likely due to a well-intentioned desire to appear balanced or calming—that the execution is entirely devoid of personality or feeling. Much has been said and memed about the sans-serification (a word we made up) of large fashion house’s brand identities. A lot of ink has been spilled over the ubiquity of blobby illustrations for the tech world resulting in a kind of Mattisian sameness. It is somewhat surprising that in the age of the screen—the dominant placement for so much of what is designed today—we observe a preference for flatness.

Simple flat design can be astonishingly beautiful in its uncanny ability to communicate a multitude of ideas in as few moves as possible. It can also be limiting in terms of the possibility for creative expression. Flat means safe: it means fewer shapes, fewer hours, fewer ideas. But it also potentially means greater accessibility and legibility, greater use-cases and adaptability. Dimensionality is a noble lie that can have functional user benefits. The lesson, for us, is to never stop looking at and learning from what designers create and how people interact with what is created.   Are you unsatisfied with your brand and its ability to connect with humans? Let’s talk about why.

Flat design isn’t the villain. Like any trend, it reflects a moment in time; a response to clutter, a nod to minimalism, a reaction to complexity. But when aesthetic trends override brand purpose, you get surface without substance. The real problem isn’t flatness; it’s thoughtlessness. When brands follow visual fads instead of building strategic foundations, they vanish into the scroll.

If your brand feels generic, forgettable, or just plain flat, it’s not a design problem. It’s a strategy problem.

Let’s fix that. Contact BS LLC to start building a brand that actually stands for something.