Over at fortytwomedia, Web Design Predictions for 2005. Summary: Retro looks are out, wicked worn is in. Multi-faceted categorization will get bigger (e.g. adding a piece of content to multiple categories or views; a no-brainer for bloggers, but surprisingly few commercial sites do this). “Table-using designers increasingly seen as belonging to a lower caste.” Pure red falls into disfavor (thank gawd!) “Web-safe palette is at last widely understood to be obsolete.” Chronological info display popularized by weblogs is downplayed (this is an issue we face continuously with serial publishing – the necessity of a CMS to place the most important — rather than the newest — story at the top; MT requires awkward workarounds to accomplish this).
And the big news for the J-School: We’ve gone so long between redesigns that brown is back in vogue!
I’m not sure what to say about the “Web Design Predictions…”.
I read it too, but while being strangely attracted to actually go read the article (as a web designer), I was also repulsed by the sheer thought of reading something which is predictable by itself. You see, all these stupid prediction lists work on the same principle: look at what’s been happening for the last couple of years, generalize it, then find the (more-or-less) opposites, then find some examples to support your view (which, btw, are mostly coming from people still stuck in the previous predictions-list), and then pour that in a “Prediction List”.
So, while I was reading it, I was thinking… “how f**king predictable this list is.”
And… “Oh, isn’t wicker worn really, really retro ? ”
You know what ? The best, most original and innovative designs still come from people who don’t read those lists. It’s these originators whom pull a new “trend” forward, until it’s beaten to death by people who’s creativity doesn’t reach further than reading lists (on “do’s” and “dont’s”). Then, after a few years, a new list need to be made, since everybody is running out of fresh ideas (to steal).
So, I’d love to see designers to not follow this list, and come up with something from within themselves. Otherwise, I’m going to get bored with stuff I’ve seen a gazillion times in the days from the previous-previous list…
Oh, and one more thing.
Since when does design follow a yearly trend ?!
Is this like, on December 31 we have to get rid of that Pure Red, and make sure it becomes Brown by January the first ?
Man, mentioning those silly lists isn’t worth the space in any blog. Let alone commenting on it. Ahem.
Guy, I take stuff like this with a grain of salt. I certainly don’t see it as a list of recommendations, or some kind of handbook to being cool. Just predictions, that’s all. And I don’t think most of the points on it are too far off-base, just extrapolating from what I’ve been seeing out there. In other words, this kind of thing is more descriptive than prescriptive – and it’s not as silly as “Top 100 albums of the decade” or similar (although those are also interesting to read, for their own reasons).
As for yearly, I don’t think they were suggesting that; they just choose the end of the year because, well, because people like end-of-year wrap-ups of all kinds.