Carina, anche se ovviamente un po’ forzata, l’analogia di Mike Sall fra web design e architettura. I primi siti corrisponderebbero al Neolitico, quelli in flash al periodo Gotico (meh, in entrambi i casi) e quelli piatti — il cosiddetto flat design — al periodo più recente.
Non è la prima persona a paragonare le due cose: architettura e web design. Andrew Burton:
As a previous architecture student I see a lot of similarities in the sweeping rise of the modern minimalist (flat) design to the tabla rasa created by the European modernist architects in the beginning of the 20th century. In the case of the architects, they rejected the superfluous and elaborate ornamentation that were prevalent in the beaux arts, art nouveaux and art deco styles that preceded them. They believed (and still do) that the pastiched character added to the building through these preceding styles was misappropriated and disingenuous in modern times. Instead their principles were based on form following function and utilising the new building techniques of concrete, steel, glass and mass reproduction.
The same has happened in the web world albeit 100 years later. Before the rise of ‘flat’ design the digital world was crammed with skeumorphic design cluttered with ornamental and superfluous features that gave character to the product but were actually just distractions from what the user wants: a product that works.
Del resto il “flat design” non è nulla di nuovo; il corrente stile minimalista esiste da 100 anni — si pensi al Bauhaus e al lavoro di Dieter Rams o Paul Rand.