The Fundamental Flaw in Flat Design

Flat design is an aesthetic style that doesn’t use any realistic or three-dimensional visual effects. When designers pursue a flat aesthetic, they often end up removing most of the signifiers (visual clues that tell users what’s interactive) from their interfaces. This lack of signifiers, combined with the popularity of flat design in the mainstream web since 2013, has been slowly altering how your users move through digital interfaces.

If your organization is considering adopting a flat, flat-ish, flat 2.0, or minimalist aesthetic, you should first be aware of the potential consequences. Even if your site isn’t flat, you can bet your users are experiencing flat design on other sites, and it’s changed their expectations of your designs. This seminar explains what’s causing this epidemic of click uncertainty, and how you can avoid its negative consequences.
 

What You’ll Learn

• Why flat design can hurt user efficiency and contribute to a sense of powerlessness
• How differentiate between often-confused digital design terms: flat design, flat 2.0, flat-ish, and minimalist design
• What function signifiers play in digital interfaces, and how to design strong signifiers
• How young adults are impacted differently by flat design
   

Topics Covered

• Flat design vs. flat 2.0 vs. minimalist design
• Signifiers and affordances
• Clickability
• User empowerment
• Click uncertainty
• Young adults and flat design