Flat Design

So in my previous post I spoke about simplifying branding and design.This post continues along those lines, but takes a deeper look at some specific design principles.

You have probably seen flat design around or noticed a trend in design, but never actually knew what to call it.

Currently, if you take a look at your iPhone, Android device or some apps like flashlight apps or Pinterest, you will see items which are made to look like the thing they are replacing digitally- be it a pinboard, newspaper stand,  calendar, clock or calculator. This is known as skeuomorphic design, making digital items mimic their analogue counterparts. Lot’s of shadows, fake details and visual tricks.

Now, what flat design advocates say is that all that detail is unnecessary. It overcomplicates things. Just like I was saying in my last post- keep it simple. GUI’s should go for functionality over the complicated design styles.

Flat design gets discards beveled edges, gradients, shadows and reflections. It instead focuses on parallax scrolling and the visual clarity of beautiful digital interfaces.

Some great examples of flat design are the Google Now app. Notice the use of text, colour and images to break the design up. No fluffing around.

Another great example is the upcoming iOS 7. It takes away the bulky, shadowed, realistic designs and replaces them with simple, beautiful ones.

‍