Smashing Magazine has a great post today about the new “minimalistic” or “flat” trend that is becoming increasingly popular lately.
While I admit I’m in the middle of a redesign of BoxRowSeat to make it more “minimalistic” and “flat” (with an emphasis on “responsive”… I know, I hate myself, too), this article hits on all the main points about what’s important if you want to follow this style. From the article:
It would be a mistake to rigidly apply a minimalist design aesthetic to an interface as a style in the hope of making the interface simpler and more digitally “authentic.” For example, ruthlessly eliminating visuals such as shadows, colors and varied background styles would not necessarily make an interface easier to use. In some cases, it would achieve the opposite by undermining hierarchy and focus, which were established by those very shadows and background colors.
Outlook 2013’s interface was updated to fit Windows 8’s modern theme. But with the interface being flattened, all of the content and menus were merged onto a single white plane, becoming more cluttered as a result.
Read the (long, but completely worth it) article at Smashing Magazine.