It's worth noting that LayerVault are the guys behind the "Flat Design" blog post that's been getting a fair bit of attention recently.
The article was purposefully brief and the author has commented that no one quite grasps his concept of the flat design principle[1], so I'll try not to comment on that blog post specifically.
DesignerNews really seems like a minimal aesthetic is getting in the way of minimal design. There's nothing wrong with minimal interfaces, but I really think DesignerNews is a case where some design decisions sacrificed functionality in favour of aesthetic.
The article was purposefully brief and the author has commented that no one quite grasps his concept of the flat design principle[1], so I'll try not to comment on that blog post specifically.
DesignerNews really seems like a minimal aesthetic is getting in the way of minimal design. There's nothing wrong with minimal interfaces, but I really think DesignerNews is a case where some design decisions sacrificed functionality in favour of aesthetic.
[1] See his comment here (Allan G). The comment system is strangely lacking some key features like permalinks, unfortunately: https://news.layervault.com/stories/558-skeuomorphic-texture...