I suspect the author is correct that many of these ideas will (continue to) trend during 2014.
It would be interesting to know of anyone who’s done actual testing to see how effective or otherwise these ideas really are, whether that’s something technical like A/B testing on conversion rates or simply collecting feedback from a range of users about how much they enjoyed using a site.
For example, I’ve seen a few striking presentations recently that illustrated a long-form article with not just static graphics but also animated diagrams and even short video clips of interviews (#11 in the list of trends). Obviously someone put a lot of time into designing those pages, and to me the results were much more engaging than a wall of text.
On the other hand, I wonder how well these Pinterest-style tiled layouts (#16) really work. I personally find them difficult to scan, as there is often no sense of hierarchy or leading me through the information in a useful order. All my instincts as a web designer say this is probably bad for usability, but I have no data to back this up.
On Pinterest-style tile layouts: I think they work for images, where you are scanning primarily images (Pinterest, Google image search). I think they do not work in cases where you want to scan text (headlines, etc.).
God, I hope not. Yes, Win8 was first in that regard and look how well that's doing. Especially the flat, tiled mess that is metro. Where even the most die hard Windows fans who try to sell you on Win8 say "When you use start8, it's not that bad."
Also, dumping skeuomorphism in iOS7 does not mean you just have to a) crank up the brightness to 11 and b) apparently break out MS Paint and design all your interfaces in it.
Is the stitched leather not making sense in a calender application? Yes.
Did they really need to go ahead and remove every bit of polish from the UI? No.
Just look at iBooks. They left the page turning gesture including animation of a page turning. Apparently there is the line Apple drew. But what was wrong in using a nice book shelf as a "background image"? You can't stress that enough. Many applications have background images. And a shelf for books makes sense.
What do they have now? Nothing. Why, nothing at all. The book covers are now floating in a white void. Apparently that is what "flat" and "modern" design is all about.
So I guess the next iteration of iBooks will see the multi colored book covers removed and replaced by white, 90 degree rectangles in which the titles are written in a uniform black font. Cause that is what is considered "modern" now by the looks of it.
If there is a god, people will get bored of the flat, 1990 looking UIs very quickly. And why wouldn't they? How long can you look at interfaces like that and not be reminded of your old DOS editor. At least that used ASCII art to give you a drop shadow on your window.
Is "giant black box on the bottom of the screen" on the list?
Sarcasm aside I don't see much value in this list. It's the same regurgitated platitudes in any of the other similar "articles" that have been posted on Reddit.
I love how they talk about design and then take over my middle click to force loading over the page I'm reading. Umm, hello it's 2014 and if I want to open in another tab I WILL!
Not mentioned is "giant image at the top of the page screen that conveys nothing useful". I expect this will continue,
Medium has taken it extremes, but the trend started before that and is extremely common in landing pages - there are few startups from recent years that don't have this
A related patterns is "giant swaths of empty space at the top of the page".
Both are related to "lots of vertical scrolling required to get to anything useful", which the author did cover.
It would be interesting to know of anyone who’s done actual testing to see how effective or otherwise these ideas really are, whether that’s something technical like A/B testing on conversion rates or simply collecting feedback from a range of users about how much they enjoyed using a site.
For example, I’ve seen a few striking presentations recently that illustrated a long-form article with not just static graphics but also animated diagrams and even short video clips of interviews (#11 in the list of trends). Obviously someone put a lot of time into designing those pages, and to me the results were much more engaging than a wall of text.
On the other hand, I wonder how well these Pinterest-style tiled layouts (#16) really work. I personally find them difficult to scan, as there is often no sense of hierarchy or leading me through the information in a useful order. All my instincts as a web designer say this is probably bad for usability, but I have no data to back this up.