Asklemmy

I'm biased towards Y2K from the nostalgia, since those were the prime years of my childhood right before my teenage years kicked in.

But, I love the design of that time because of how obsessed with futurism everything was. It took the future chic look of the mid-late '60s and revamped it, taking that hype for the future- with the Space Race- bringing it back, and updating it for the Information Age.

It felt like we, as a society, had so much optimism for the world that was to come. So, if anything, I think that's what I'm mostly nostalgic for. I was so excited to grow up in that world. Damn.

Flat design is clinical depression in graphical form, a reflection of the contemporary existential/mental health crisis. It's a societal cry for help, basically.

You know the worst part about flat design? Fucking "hamburger menu". Fuck that shit.

The second worst part? "Text? Lol get real, old man!" Menus that don't have text so I have to guess what the fucking icons mean on every different app/site.

I don't share the hate for flat design.
It's cleaner than the others, simpler and less distracting. Easier on the eyes, too. It takes itself seriously and does so successfully imo (nice try, aero). It feels professional in a way all the previous eras don't - they seem almost child-like by comparison.

Modern design cultivates recognizable interactions by following conventions and common design language instead of goofy icons and high contrast colors. To me, modern software interfaces look like tools; the further you go back in time, the more they look like toys.

Old designs can be charming if executed well and in the right context. But I'm glad most things don't look like they did 30 years ago.

I'm guessing many people associate older designs with the era they belonged to and the internet culture at the time. Perhaps rosy memories of younger days. Contrasting that with the overbearing corporate atmosphere of today and a general sense of a lack of authenticity in digital spaces everywhere, it's not unreasonable to see flat design as sterile and soulless. But to me it just looks sleek and efficient.
I used to spend hours trying to customize UIs to my liking, nowadays pretty much everything just looks good out of the box.

The one major gripe I have is with the tendency of modern designs to hide interactions behind deeply nested menu hopping. That one feels like an over-correction from the excessively cluttered menus of the past.
That and the fact that there's way too many "settings" sections and you can never figure out which one has the thing you're looking for.

P S. The picture did flat design dirty by putting it on white background - we're living in the era of dark mode!

Every era is defined by the tools we had at hand during that process. While Memphis is basically pixel art, Y2K was defined by the gradient and mask tools on Photoshop, and Aero was a victim of skewmorphic design trends pushed by the commodity of 3D tooling. Flat design took prevalence because raster-based products felt weird when seen on retina displays.

I wonder how design will be affected when AI tools become the norm.

Aero: I liked the 2010-ish design best even though I was at least 20 at the time. I just found Memphis and y2k a little goofy. Win XP or this fish glass Mac are the worst for me.

Maybe someone who is too young to have lived in the 90s finds this novel, I don't know.

Someone has written it here. There was at least some techno optimism left in 2012 or so and maybe that's the time I am nostalgic for.

Not so much the 90s "because we had no phones" - then turn your phone off.

Flat design is just soulless crap

I gravitate towards the ones I came up in, and that's probably not a coincidence. I will say that flat design becomes self-defeating sometimes. Every damn Google icon looks the same.

Needs a few earlier movements, including Art Deco/jazz moderne, Bauhaus and midcentury modern/googie

Aero looks futuristic and sleek.

The next generation of design is already taking shape. It's a simplistic skewmorphic design, where it looks like the logo has been made out of clay. Look at the new Reddit and Android logo.

Frutiger Aero was when design peaked

I like flat design.

I feel like everyone here just prefers the design they grew up with.

not sure, but I do know that "flat design" is absolutely the fucking worst.

Frutiger and Y2K for sure

All eras have some grace? But the best was art deco.

Best era was actually the 1920s(art nouveau)

Deleted my previous comment, felt like I should give this a bit more attention.

To be honest I feel like all designs are good in their own way. I like the general vibe of Memphis, but being that I was born in the mid 90s, it's probably just that general energy you get from things that happened before you did, where they are "cool" due to how just-old-enough-to-be-old-but-not-old-enough-to-be-an-antique they are, yanno?

Y2K design -- Well. I like the transluscent plastic on Gameboys and Macs. Really underrated aesthetic, wouldn't mind having it back. The DreamCast had some very sleek angles too.

Frutiger Aero will never not "look like the future" to me. It was the age of computer interfaces having all sorts of fun colours and transparencies and animations, and it just LOOKED futuristic and neat. Don't care for the product designs of the era though. That shiny finish would draw in filth and fingerprints from accross the room and after a very short time it'd lose its prettiness.

Flat design I have issues with, like the hamburger menus and the abandonment of descriptive text in favour of abstract icons -- It is also a bit too serious, but I understand and accept that, even if I miss the playfulness of Frutiger. -- But it DID finally bring us dark mode. And my eyes are forever grateful.

... Just wish solarized themes were the norm instead, no idea why they must have such high contrast. I'd even give light mode its time of day if it was a solarized light instead.

Y2k was a really exiting phase, but my nostalgia lives for the late 80s and early 90s. But who is the asshole who did neither include a C64, not an Amiga in this?

agreed

Best aesthetic is Cassette Futurism

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Tbh I kinda like flat design if done tastefully and within a confined scope, but that Alegria/Globo Homo bullshit from evil corporations and the weird full plastic boxes of nothing can rightly go to the dump.

I will hate the decade though for its prevalence of the bland beige and off-white interior design.

Aero is my favorite. I think it looks nice

The Nintendo Switch theme is the most boring shit I have ever seen in a recent handheld... At least it can be improved if you have it hacked... But 3DS were much better, anytime I open it up and the Phoenix Wright or Hotel Dusk BGM start to hit is the real deal!

Frutiger with the first 3Ds wins everything for me

I like the 2015-2024 design

I'd say that it was the 80s, because most types of art peaked in 1984 (in terms of cultural significance).

I'd say PS2 belongs in flat design, even if it falls outside the dates they think: its design language was ahead of its time

Flat design definitely looks the cleanest, most simple and pleasing to the eye.

Was the 3DS (main menu) really frutiger? Feels like a far cry compared to Win7 and the xbox 360

Peak design was late 90s and 2000s, where you got to see the new crazy designs of a new era while 80s design still existed all around you prevalently. That fusion is peak nostalgia for me.

Late 90s decided that everyone had to dress up in silver

Then what's Win11, Arc, that style?

Not a fan of the early windows style, but otherwise "Memphis" looks coolest to me. Reminds me of early nickelodeon. The crowd in the background of What Would You Do was 100% this style.

The music. The early 90s saw the rise of independent record labels which then gave rise to bands who wouldn't have stood a chance otherwise, aka Indie Music. After the 60s, the 90s is by far the best era for modern music ever.

memphis & flat

I love the excess of the Y2K Era. Everything was so much more beautiful, unique, and strange. Everything after seemed like an attempt to "dial it back."