What I find interesting is the author neglects to mention that Jony Ive was responsible for both introducing the flat design in iOS 7 they seem to lament and the AirBnB redesign they're praising as a positive paradigm shift.
In my opinion, a lot recent UI/UX and visual design has become less about seeking to understand and improve the way we interact with machines and more about promoting a digital form of fast fashion full of trends that everyone is expected to follow - change for the sake of change. This post only provides more support for that.
>a lot recent UI/UX and visual design has become less about seeking to understand and improve the way we interact with machines and more about creating a digital form of fast fashion full of trends that everyone is expected to follow - change for the sake of change
In undergrad I took a course in Human Computer Interaction. It was a bunch of glorious retro materials from all the actual hard research done in the 20th century. After graduating and entering industry the most effort I've ever seen "professionals" put into HCI (and not just graphic design) is to recognize some interaction might be confusing and just go copy whatever apple does.
My experience mirrors yours, and to make matters worse, even Apple has forgotten their roots. The changes Apple has made to Mac OS and their apps have consistently been for the worse and I no longer consider Apple to be the pillar of good design that they once were.
Exactly. Even much of the discussion here misses the point. Whether design is flat or has depth is totally irrelevant, when it isn't first and foremost focused on enabling humans to interact with computers.
The debate about aesthetics just hides the ever declining usability of interfaces. Constantly redesigning everything so that it fits some global aesthetic mould is destructive to usability.