Lucian Marin
Black and white
Designers are getting tired of the “flat design” trend. What’s next? I would say black and white, because “flat” has become a colour mess.
We solve problems by getting rid of issues. The issue with “flat design” is insane colour schemes. Remember when iOS 7 was announced? We got rainbows over rainbows, straight from the world’s most famous designer, Jony Ive himself. In a recent iOS update, Apple reconsidered those gradients for the FaceTime and Phone icons.
Why would anyone choose “black and white” over “flat” trend?
For companies, designers and fashion setters, things like even better typography, crisper icons and more subtle details can’t be ignored. Colour photography stands out from the background, while black and white photography blends right in. In the end, blacks, whites and greys are more carefully considered than ever before. The new design of Calvin Klein is a step in the right direction, but it isn’t yet a true black and white design. The sweet spot would be the Karl Lagerfeld of visual design.
What’s going to happen with colours?
First of all, using colours for layout is a bad idea from the start. People tend to think colours are used for actions — they choose to touch coloured headers in iOS apps even when those headers aren’t actionable. Keeping a sane check on colours is a good idea in itself. Red will still be used for delete buttons; green and blue will still be acceptable, as long as they convey a strict and specific action.
I was one of the first designers to embrace the minimalistic design trends — first with The Journalist, then through the many redesigns of my site over the years. Then in 2012 I settled on a design named Project 2022, which featured shades of grey with two popping colours: teal and yellow. I think keeping the same ingredients while getting rid of colours made the design much deeper than I imagined.