I came across this little article today, and it really got me thinking about the giant leaps that online design has taken, not just in the past decade, but even in the past year! Gone are the skeuomorphic design elements (hazar!) and finally we have a return to cleanliness. Modernity has always been great mates with simplicity, and now that we are seeing online design washing its hands of all that unnecessary complexity we can all breath a sigh of relief!
The online environment is still young, but it is finding its way. Its journey thus far has been filled with trial and error experiments in creating engaging user experiences rather than just attention grabbing with blinking gifs and blinding colours. The code that has historically held us back has really come into its own, and is permitting a designer to design rather than to settle on what can be coded in. These advances have been a long time coming, and certainly there is still a long road ahead, but it feels like online design's awkward teenage years are done and dusted - finally! It has been a relatively quick transition too, my 1986 poodle perm took years to grow out ;)
