The history of flat design: How efficiency and minimalism made the digital world is flat

We translated for you interesting article author TheNextWeb Amber Leigh Turner, which tells about the origins of the appearance of a flat design, how it changes the interfaces are now and what will happen in the flat style future.

If you are even slightly interested in graphic design, we could not help but hear about the term "flat design". This trend first appeared on the Web a few years ago, and more recently, flat design "Shot" and became extremely popular due to the large companies, which have been actively used flat design.

But where did this very flat design? And why do we see it on the Internet? Like everything else in design, knowledge of the history of this style will help you make more informed decisions when using a flat design.

Let's see what is it like to flat design, which design trends of the past affect it and learn how it has become so popular.

What is the slim design?

Those of you who are not familiar with the value of the flat design, should know that slim design - it is this style of design in which elements are devoid of any stylistic features and they do not look like the epitome of real objects (so-called skeuomorph).

With non-professional point of view, flat design devoid of elements such as gradients, shadows, textures, which are designed to make the items more three-dimensional and realistic.

Today it seems that designers are strongly attracted to the flat design, because it is perceived as a fresh and modern, and allows you to focus on what is most important: the content and The message.

Getting rid of all kinds of style, designers make their designs more long-playing and now use a flat design - this is the most appropriate strategy.

But this does not mean that other styles are generally not taken into account. Often, to refer to the opposite flat style, uses the term "rich design," which characterized by a large number of various decorations - bevels, reflections, shadows, gradients. "The rich design" is used to make things more "tactile", more convenient for users to browse websites and use mobile apps.

It is important to understand that the "rich design" - not the same thing as skeuomorph. Skeuomorph involves the conscious use of natural analogs of certain elements (toggle switches, buttons, skin texture, and so on) to make them look familiar to users.

Where he went flat design?

Most of what we see now on the Internet and the digital world, is derived from printed and artistic ancestors. While it is difficult to say exactly when the era of flat design and where his origins, but there are several distinct periods in the design and art from which drew inspiration from a flat style.

Swiss style

Swiss style (sometimes called the International Typographic Style) is the first source inspiration for a flat design that comes to mind, so you should deal with it in a more detail.

Swiss design mainly focuses on the use of the guide grids, sans-serif typography (the so-called "grotesque" - approx. per.) and clear hierarchy of content and design. During the '40s and' 50s the Swiss design could often be found at many of the photos as a design element.

Typography is a key element in the Swiss style, and here it is impossible not to mention the typefaces Helvetica, which also appeared in Switzerland in 1957 and is actively used by this day.

It is interesting to observe how the slim design was used before as it implemented in their achievements Microsoft and Apple and made it popular, because the Swiss style can be traced even in Germany the 20's XX century. At that time it became very popular, and its elements are used in the famous German Bauhaus school - art lovers will not lie, that in the Bauhaus much emphasis on typography, which has much in common with the Swiss style.

Minimalism

Huge impact on the flat design can be found in the history of minimalism. Today, the term "minimalism" is often used interchangeably with a flat design, but minimalism was popular long before the appearance of a flat design. In minimalism has its long tradition in architecture, art, design.

Minimalism has a rich history and covers various forms of art, but where the flat design is now the dominant, often use elements of minimalism. Such elements minimalist as strict geometric shapes, bright colors, and clear lines are used in a flat design.

One of the most famous works of art in the style of minimalism here is this painting by Yves Klein "blue Epoch":

We can say with confidence that the mixture of the Swiss style and minimalist largely influenced the slim design and the modern look of the digital world.

The era of the flat design of Microsoft and Apple

History repeats itself, and the same holds true for the flat design. As we learned above, planar elements can be found in the 20-ies of XX century.

Quite a few designers have worked with single flat design, but it is Microsoft and Apple made it so popular. Well, let's talk about them.

Microsoft and Metro interface

Microsoft started to work with a flat design long before the Metro interface. In the mid-2000s, Microsoft has released iPod rival - the Zune player (I'm sure some of you still remember the name of it - approx. Ed.).

It was with the release of Zune have a unique design style, in which the emphasis was placed on the large typography. Zune software design was quite different from the majority of Microsoft software at that time. After all, Windows Phone 7 was released only at the end of 2010 and the design of this mobile OSes took a lot of the software interface Zune. The large and bright forms, based on the guide grids, typography without serif (grotesque), flat icons.

This interface Microsoft will soon call Metro

This design has become so popular that Microsoft has released a desktop OS Windows 8, which is based on Metro UI. Clear square shape, focus on typography, vibrant colors - all this and moved on personal computers. The same interface is used in almost all Microsoft products, including the Xbox 360.

As Apple tossed skeuomorph

Despite the fact that Microsoft has been working on a flat interface, Apple has also been the trump cards up its sleeve. First, Apple slightly hinted at what is going to abandon skeuomorph, and with the announcement of iOS 7 in June 2013, it became clear - kupertinovtsy firmly decided to use a flat design.

Since Apple at that time there were many adherents out "flat» iOS 7 made this design style popular than ever. And it happened in a very short period of time (ie the rapid transition to iOS 6 to iOS 7 - approx. Ed.).

Apple design aesthetics greatly influenced the design of mobile applications and web sites, because most designers finally began to consider the style of the most modern and appropriate. When Apple switched to flat style, skeuomorph instantly outdated and ogromnou number of sites and applications urgently needed redesign.

This is clearly seen on mobile apps, which have seriously changed its design and interface to match the iOS 7 standards. It allowed users to relatively quickly get used to the flat iOS 7.

Adaptive design

It should also be noted that one of the reasons flat design became so popular was the so-called "adaptive design". With the development of Internet technologies in the steel network users to enter a variety of devices - in the first place, from mobile. This prompted the designers to use responsive design, so that the sites are equally well looked both high-grade computers and smartphones and tablets. And many designers have used "flat" elements in the development of adaptive sites.

Flat style allows web design to be more effective. Without unnecessary interface elements, sites load faster, giving the user the ability to focus on the content.

This also agrees well with the trend of increasing the resolution of the screens of mobile devices. It is much easier to display a clear and simple forms and typography than every time heavy load images that have different views on different screen resolutions.

The future of flat design

Of course, we do not have a glassed ball that foretells the future, but it is clear that flat design, like everything else, not eternal, and subsequently it will be replaced by some other style. After all, the flat design has obvious flaws and designers will experiment further, that eventually lead to the emergence of a new dominant style that will leave flat design in deep the past.

In this connection it is interesting to observe that some design work today is done by Google. On the one hand, in their applications, there is a plurality of planar elements, but Google did not give up many elements skeuomorph - for example, they are still using the shadows. Apparently, the "corporation good" wants to take the best from each of the styles and create your own unique style.

Now flat design is perceived as an exciting fashion trend, and it is certainly an important milestone in the history of design. But do not forget that in many ways, slim design - it is only the reincarnation of the Swiss style and minimalism in the new digital world.

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editor's comment

I was interested to read and translate for you this note also, because a year ago, when everyone wondered what will be the iOS 7, I I wrote a post "Why in iOS 7 is not flat design", which shared his opinion about how the mobile operating system should look on Apple. Then I was opposed to the flat design and the first time he really struggled. But months of the user experience changed my mind. I'm used to a flat design and it does not cause me rejection.

Now, months later, exactly one can say that iOS Shake failed. Skeuomorph looks now very archaic and absurd, and it is clear that iOS 7 became seemingly more modern and attractive. Of course, there are those who do not like this style. But there were also dissatisfied will always :-).

In iOS 8 you want to see correct some flaws in design (especially some icons applications), but basically, Apple did the right thing, that made flat design standard for the coming years. It is interesting to see how this will affect the appearance of OS X, and what the future holds APIs.

What do you think about the design of the flat, iOS 7, in particular? Do not forget to share your views in the comments.

(via TheNextWeb)