The majority of site visitors are only interested in the contents. If they can read and navigate the contents and the contents is worth reading they do not care what the site looks like.

Unless of course the visitor is looking for a web designer. Then a design with nothing but square boxes may turn them off. :)

A) You like your decision and are proud of it.
B) The item in question adds some sort of value.

That being said, I know there are some kids out there that feel all warm and fuzzy and proud of themselves because their white to light gray gradient is better than every other white to light gray gradient. But seriously, take a break and go eat a Lunchable and ponder whether item B on the above list is fulfilled.

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How do you come up with so much material to blog with?…

That being said, this kind of style is much MUCH better than pre-2000 websites ;)

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I am an Illustration student, and have been pulling my hair out at times during the last 2 years for similar reasons to those that you mentioned with web design trends. 80% of the students on my course are incessantly drawing pouting girls with flowers and birds flying out of their heads, or a worm’s eye sketch of an emo kid wearing sunglasses with a rainbow in the background. It pains me sometimes to consider the commercial success these people will have, though I can see far enough into the future to realise that you will always be 2 steps behind if you draw your inspiration solely from what is contemporary and current.

I was lucky enough to meet Johnny Hardstaff, who was responsible for some of the very early motion design for Playstation. He explained how Sony had taken a concept of his and asked him to expand it into a sequence that could promote the next generation of gaming consoles. His solution was a scrolling ‘timeline’ of gaming, with schematics and full of retro game characters and consoles. This will sound familiar, because as you mentioned in your references, this approach or style has now also become ‘standardised’ through less intelligent use.

From a philosophical perspective, I always maintain that dynamic and innovative, or at least just unique designs have always found their inspiration in unexpected places. If you are listening to Bach and looking at 15th century iconography at the time you are conceptualising designs for a modern theme, and can coalesce these diverse threads into a new solution (as good designers should be able to do) then you are likely to realise something far superior to those drawing inspiration from entirely contemporary or ‘trendy’ sources. The artist assimilates things, and knows what to include and what to leave out for the purpose of balanced and if necessary functional design.

However, ‘philosophical perspective’, particularly relating to design is something that I doubt many MDs or CEOs, or even bread and butter marketing staff will pride themselves on.

I have become disillusioned with many projects as a result of narrow minded thinking from those with the cash.

How do you deal with this on a personal level? I have had 2 hour long phone calls with clients asking, them to reconsider demands that will turn designs into ‘Frankenstein’ like creations.

My policy now is to include only experimental work in my portfolio, so that after this is inevitably dumbed down by commercial work, it at least lowers itself to a higher plateau than if it had started as examples of past commercial work that had been subject to the same bastardisation.

Do we always have to wait until the slow wheel of public acceptance turns to what we as designers would have been expressing years ago, or is there a secret for maintain dignity and direction when working with people from a less creative background?

Anyway to add more. I believe SyrupNYC defined it best here:

(n) Syr-up: A concentrated solution of ideas, often used as a vehicle for healthy visceral branding.

Meaning:
Differentation Y’all. Thats the name of the game. No. Don’t use the same rounded corners exactly. But twist it up a bit.

I’m getting tired of super shiny sites and conversely, the grunge look is getting a fair bit of play. I do feel that we need start looking in other directions rather than just blindly going along with the crowd.

I’m also a fan of a “real world” web design approach which lies somewhere between the useless bling we see so much of and the rigid “standards compliant” design philosophies. The web is about communicating and not everyone does that in the same way. Think about your target audience. Plan your visuals to engage them and to convey your message. Do you really think the majority of people on the web care if your page code or CSS validates? I doubt it. Then why limit yourself by those standards? Of course, standards do have their place and if you can write code that validates and in turn present a design that is pleasing and works correctly, by all means do so.

We need to become more than just design puppets for our clients. We really need to position ourselves as experts and educators to help them achieve what they really want with their site, a return on their investment. We need to stick by our guns and fight for good design, not just window dressing. Sure you’ll have those clients who still insist on a bad design, but you’ll always have the right to say “I told you so..” when the site flounders in a sea of look-alikes.

Trendy design is obviously very important for some identities. Obviously, the DRAG style is popular right now and it would make sense that organizations wanting to be visually current would take that into consideration. Nonetheless, if your design begins and ends with only DRAGing (or the next design trend), you are going to be a very non-descript tree in a very large forest. If you work those design trends into a unique and strong design, you are going to have a lot more luck.

I actually think we agree on this topic more than it may appear. :)

I understand minimalistic design, and the principles of design. I wasn’t saying grid design is a trend, grids rocks for the web, I was just stating that design of this site, is trendy. And to criticize other people for being trendy, is well hypocritical.

Fair enough. Although in that case, it would be hard for a web designer or any professional to write critical essays about the field they work in.
Regarding Tony’s comment, I am curious to hear suggestions about what kind of design articles/topics people find relevant and helpful?

I guess you could argue minimalism is a style, just like atheism is a spiritual belief – it’s lack of decoration is its style. I think we just look at this topic differently.

I also think the web looks a lot better nowadays due to improved technologies and more designers who know how to take advantage of them. To say that a particular style has made the web a better looking place is highly subjective. Additionally, I’ll be interested to see how many people agree about that statement a couple years from now.

I guess I’m tired of articles dissing one trend when the participate in many web trends themselves. Even if they deem their trend superior, hence grids, and black bars.