Drawar

Over use of Ajax/Flash. Lack of usability. The leaf in a logo. Actually let me formulate that better - a logo that has no connection to the product or service. Trying to give a site a Web 2.0 feel.

I can vouch for Tyme hating leaves in logos. I can't say any trends pop up to mind, which may be a first in a very long time. Either I am not trying out enough services or everyone is starting to give their own look and feel to things.

I think with css gaining support and designers' increasing knowledge of its use has caused us to fall into the trap of making most sites look the "same but different". Yes, css has made our lives incredibly easier than the table days, but at the same time we seem to be churning out the same design with a different style. Maybe it's a lazy factor? Since we can do things so much easier, we don't make the extra effort to do something really special.

I feel as a whole we're not thinking much outside of the box. *BUZZWORD!* I remember the good ol' days where you'd come across unbelievably interesting and groundbreaking projects just about everyday while surfing places such as K10K, surfstation, and the like.

Some examples:
1. Same old centered fixed width
2. Same old trends i.e. pattern textures, gradients, rounded corners etc.
3. Chunky boxes, grungy frames, etc.
3. Trying to think of other examples but it's too early in the morning :P

Anywho, I'm in this quagmire myself, and am currently trying to break free of it. Fight complacency!! haha

Web 2.0 brought a lot of new possibilities but most were handled a bit to much an some weren't grasped entirely. Most people would use new features like the better Ajax integration. Then relying on flash to save your entire site. Your supposed to design to suite the needs and work with web standards. It almost sickens me. LEAFS MAKE NO SENSE AT ALL!

I don't like garrish cartoons stuck all over a page, and I'm sick of psychedelic colours in a site. It's very disorienting.

That being said, I have no problem at all with a logo that has no connection to the company: it's the company's job to give meaning to the logo itself. How would you explain Apple Computer's logo, or Starbucks, or Nike?

Hmmm...I'm not going to say people should never use a leaf, but they are definitely over used.

Something else which is overused is reflections. For the most part, they do not look 'cool' anymore.

Badly executed 'shinyness' and gradients, are annoying too.

However, you can go too far, as I think daxgti has. Saying that centered fixed width, gradients, textures, and grungy frames are all signs of complacency, is like saying car designers are complacent because they still use round wheels, metal chassis, and different colours of paint.

I'd say it's more down to the quality of execution.

Ehhh I don't know Armen. I do fully understand your point though. I could come across that way. I apologize. What I'm trying to say is that I feel we're beginning to see just too much of the same thing. Maybe it's only me who is seeing this trend? I definitely have to battle myself everyday to grow beyond these typical design elements. Push the envelope.

There isn't anything inherently wrong with any of the things that all of us have listed here. It's just when you start seeing the same thing over and over and over and over again across just about every site you come across, it begins to get a bit jaded. Just hit up any of the popular css galleries and most of the designs are very similar, with a few that stand out as going above and beyond.

Where is the innovation? Where are the new ideas? Maybe it's only me that feels I have become complacent? I look at my own work and I see the same trends that I see most others doing.

Yes, we need to embrace the medium we work in. There will always be standard conventions and elements that we need to work in/around. But how do we innovate upon those same old conventions?

I actually wrote a word search based on irritating buzzwords and trends from 2007:

http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2007/12/marketing_buzzwords_2007_word.htm

Hahaha nice job wrttnwrd!

people or companies that use suedo-plant flower-like logos... ;)

daxgti - Don't apologise my friend. I know what you mean, I just thought subduing your points down to the quality of execution, rather than the design elements themselves, would be more accurate. You are totally correct to try and fight complacency in design. Snook has a good post, which, if used correctly, could help fight complacency and give birth to greater inspiration.

I went to your Volksbloggin site (I've always wanted a Golf). I must say, nice work. I particularly like the layout, and the clean lines. Just a pity about the reflections in the footer though ;-)

Thanks Armen. Yeah, can't stand those buggers down there with IE6. I've just been too lazy to fix it. lol We'll get around to it hopefully.

Snap WebShots.

Fortunately, you can block that crap via hosts file :-)

Design for Developers

I'm so bloody tired of web developers writing web applications for web developers. That's *most* of what web 2.0 has been about so far, and I think it's just sick. There is a _much_ wider audience out there that "gets it" if we could just get off ourselves for one single second and use words that real people can understand and make sites that real people will use.

It's gotten to the point that every "Web 2.0" website with salt on it has a tag cloud, but it's so very clear from usability tests that non-web-developers hate (read: don't understand) tag clouds. Even Thomas Vander Wal (who arguably invented tag clouds) has said that they were extremely unpopular in his usability tests. This is just one example of design for developers, but pick one, they're everywhere. (Hint: start at www.37signals.com, then stop by del.icio.us, and if you're still looking, hop on over to Firewheel).

If I hear one more web 2.0 executive say "let's add a tag cloud for no compelling reason" I'm going to beat him with a book. Same thing goes for more design-y elements like starbursts, gradients, and leaves.

Good design sells. So, let's go sell something.

My pet hate is a star with the word "beta" in it.

Nothing more or less!