Designs like this are what I looked up to when I got started as a designer. The amount of skill required baffled me. It intrigued me. And most importantly, it motivated me. I worked hard every day and I strived to be able to create something that looked even close to this. 3. Flat design can’t be mastered today, designers see flat style everywhere. Since it’s so requested by clients, that’s what they focus on. They don’t work on perspectives, shadow depth, or reflections. Instead, they create the same old icon sets, sites, and interfaces. Karen not trying to take anything away from flat design. That’s why I mentioned that I liked it from the get-go.
Yet I worry designers will stop practicing and improving their craft by jumping on this trend, finding out too late that there’s no depth to it (pun intended). It will never be an end goal that you aspire to reach after years and years of hard work and refinement. Try your hand at skeuomorphism and you’ll find that it’s a challenge that can never be replaced. Not the special leads style itself, but in the continual pursuit of perfection. Suitcase app icon by Ramotion What do you think of the flat design trend vs skeuomorphism? Do you think it might lower the overall skill level of designers? The author Barin Cristian Doru is an experienced web designer.
Proud Member of the 99designs community great Besides creating awesome website designs, he is also an entrepreneur, an Android App Developer, and a content creator. His work ranges from freebie PSD files to small tips & tricks in Photoshop, all the way to a premium 16-hour long course on how to succeed on 99designs. I personally hate flat design. I mean, I get that it’s cleaner and I understand putting function and usability first, but it’s just so damn boring. I don’t get it. As someone who’s designed for the internet since 2000, flat design just seems like such a step backward. I like texture and shadows and gradients (albeit ones that are tastefully done and not ones reflective of the gif-obsessed, drop-shadowed internet puberty period) and when you strip those all away, everything just seems so dull and lifeless. It often LOOKS like it was thrown together quickly