Web Design is (not) Dead

Check out this article from Fast Company on “Undesigned” websites and programs. It’s a trend that’s been picking up steam recently; designing websites stripped of extraneous content to increase usability and decrease distraction. Some people have even stripped design out of website after the fact with programs like Readability. It may be getting more attention but it’s nothing new.

When we started the search for a Project Management system here at birdsong gregory, we looked at dozens of programs and Basecamp seemed to be the ugly duckling. It was the “undesigned” option and didn’t have any cool graphics or transitions. After a few months of using another program, the novelty of those graphics and transitions had worn off and been replaced by frustration from laggy performance and lost data. We went running back in to Basecamp’s “undesigned” arms and we couldn’t be happier. The point is that people don’t want bad design or websites with no design, they just want simple design that lets them get to the point- and that’s no easy task.

While some people have declared web design to be dead, this is simply the next evolution in web design and I, for one, couldn't be happier.