Let me start by saying, I like the flat design trend. And yes, I do believe that it is a trend. Overall, I really liked iOS7 when it came out; and I still like it. There are some apps that I believe have a worse user experience now, such as calendar and contacts (why does the never-used notes section take up so much space above “send message” and “share contact”), but overall I like the design.

ios7 Contacts App - Beef Palace Butcher Shop info

Clean? Yes. But the notes section, aside from rarely being used, takes up a lot of space, forcing the user to scroll every time they want to send a message or share a contact

With that being said, the first dagger in the heart of flat design will be the blind faith in and overuse we well as misuse of flat design. Skeuomorphism isn’t inherently bad; seeing glossy icons in sand and adding an outer glow to everything is. Gradients, textures, and drop shadows still have their place in digital design.

Flat design may just kill itself. I like flat design and I’m glad it’s here. Just as blind allegiance to Apple’s skeumorphic design created an overcrowded gradient and gloss party on the web, which made flat design a breath of fresh air, a “plain” web will one day give rise to some new, correct style of design.

Let me repeat, I like flat design. But I also liked it when Google was using flat design before iOS7 came out.  Apple didn’t invent flat design, just like they weren’t the first major player with the cloud.

It’s a shame that such a smart industry changed their mind on good design en masse because of blind faith. That being said, they’re creating some pretty damn good looking flat websites.