Good roundup of current design themes - though I wouldn't call them cliches, cliches by definition have become old and hackneyed, while these are just signifiers of a current trend or fad. What I think is most interesting is also how these themes are now escaping the web and finding their way into other media - a lot of print media and video also use cutesy characters, lush & rich backdrops, broken borders (especially in advertising). It's interesting to see how "web 2.0" is leaking slowly out and influencing design in other media - rather than the tradition of online design being derived from offline.
Chris at LG wrote:
Good roundup of current design themes - though I wouldn't call them cliches, cliches by definition have become old and hackneyed, while these are just signifiers of a current trend or fad. What I think is most interesting is also how these themes are now escaping the web and finding their way into other media - a lot of print media and video also use cutesy characters, lush & rich backdrops, broken borders (especially in advertising). It's interesting to see how "web 2.0" is leaking slowly out and influencing design in other media - rather than the tradition of online design being derived from offline.