How Brutalist web design challenges the norms of conventional web design
If you remember our
Ten Web Design and Development Fails
blog post, our last paragraph mentioned Ling Valentine’s Ling’s Car
Hire website. We said how it had broken many web design rules, yet
worked very well. In another source, we found how the Ling’s Car Hire
website exemplified Brutalist
Web Design par excellence. In Motherboard’s review of the website, Ling said on usability:
“The “secret” of web design/good UX, is to be human. And truthful
and honest, and not force it and stop manipulating people. It really
helps if you address your demographic, for example choose emotional
music from the correct era… and add a bit of humour. But people know
when things are honest, they can feel it.”
Mr Valentine places human contact and resonance above swish design.
He is not too snobbish about clean backgrounds and the right gradients.
Just a case of what he thinks works best. If he fancies plonking a
kitten on a certain page, that’s his prerogative.
Brutalist web design breaks the established norms of contemporary
website design, user interfaces, and responsive web design. In one way,
it could be a more human approach to web design. On the other hand, it
could be an ironic euphemism or catch all term to justify bad design.
Perhaps there is a good case for brutalist web design. Is Punk Web
Design a more appropriate term? Maybe so, given how the user interface
of some sites are reminiscent of punk fanzines like
Sniffin’ Glue. It also gives us a nostalgic feel for the era of Geocities websites and rotating ‘e’ icons for sending emails.
Over the last year, brutalist web design has made the design
magazines and newspapers due to its break from the established order. We
are unsure: we favour slickly produced websites that are easy on the
eye and quick to load. Whether your desired design is brutalist, high
gloss, or steampunk, we at Dreamkatcha will do our utmost to build a
website that best reflects your business.
Dreamkatcha, 18 May 2017.
Contact Dreamkatcha today to discuss a start up business, web design or logo design project.
