I would like to preface this blog post with the statement that of course there are thousands of websites that do not follow the trends explained in the content below, but for every website that doesn’t there are a thousand that do.

There was a time, circa ~2005 when the web had some unique individuality to it. Everybody was creating websites based on their own tastes because they enjoyed it, they loved it. Where did all of this passion go?

In a way, I want to blame grid systems, the whole “Web 2.0” movement to build minimal design, and create purely functional websites with only numbers in mind.

Manufactured design, that works

Today websites are not necessarily designed, but manufactured and created with one simple goal in mind: conversion. How do we convert users? retain users? and keep them on our website? In fact we have become so good at designing for conversion that to a degree we can design based on calculated decisions — but is that really designing? It feels like today our designs are forced to the constraints of data and formulas and user behavior without visual risk. We hear this term all the time “Minimal Viable Product,” and this way of thinking seems to always have a detrimental effect on visual design.

Of course core functionality of a website or product should behave in a usable and familiar way, but functionality doesn’t always have to appear the same.