What is the main and the most obvious difference between design in 2000 and 2020? Availability and existence.
Twenty years ago, users were not yet tempted with modern technologies. There were much fewer products, the variety was not boring yet. And each new product was innovative, opening new horizons and, important, exciting.
As we know, The World Wide Web system was invented near 30 years ago by Tim Berners Lee. His aim was to help people in faster and easier way share information all over the world. Now it has changed significantly. We don’t want just to share information nowadays. Interface should be user-friendly, environmental-friendly, clickable, fast, modern, colorful and convenient. We want technologies to work fast, without any bugs — ideal, so to say.
Web has start deeper involving in society and reflects the changing fashions, beliefs and technologies of the time.
First Design
The first website contained only text with hyperlinks explaining what the web was, how to use it, and basic set-up instructions. From those early days to the present, web design has taken a long and winding journey.
Firstly, possibility of adding images in 1990, later — Flash. Flash was a software platform that allowed designers to incorporate sound effects, video and animation into websites, making for a more dynamic audio-visual experience. Flash also gave designers more freedom to make websites interactive. This was indeed the era of a creative and technological breakthrough in web design. Splash pages, decorative animations, and beautifully rendered bubble buttons dominated the web design trend to make people stare.
People became sophisticated at browsing the Web, and the design elements no longer had to educate in a way that visually articulates the functionality, such as blue underlined hyperlinks.
Flat Design
Fast forward to 2010 when a new web design approach called responsive web design was created by Ethan Marcotte. This introduced a different way of using HTML and CSS.
The main idea underpinning responsive design was that a single website could respond and adapt to different display environments, facilitating use on different devices. People would have the same experience on their mobile device as on their desktop computer, meaning increased efficiency in web development and maintenance.This led to another wave of web design trend: flat design. A minimalist approach to design for usability was at the forefront. To put it otherwise, the bet is made on user comfort. This is a pronounced protest against Skeuomorph . The choice fell on more simplified and aesthetic solutions.In the modern world, designers need to create not only high-tech extensive functionality without visual overload, but also think not only about what we can do, but rather about what we should do. That means being considerate about how design can affect the people who use it, and designing websites that result in positive experiences for users.
