Inspiration from print design
I've been inspired by some brilliant print work recently. There's a ton of great design, much of it independently published.
There’s been some fantastic work from Counter-Print, Print Isn’t Dead, Made Publishers, plus many, many others. To my eyes, this echoes the work of Olle Eksell, Josef Müller-Brockmann, Paul Rand, Dieter Rams, and all those greats.
As well as print, this flavour of great design is naturally suited to the web. The simplicity, clarify, and great personality allows the content to breathe.
I’ve nursed a theory that web design was hit badly due to the state of graphic design way back in the 90’s. During that time, much of the lessons in both classical and modernist design were left behind. This in turn, I think, affected emerging web design, which happened to kick in in the late 90’s. We’re just recovering from this hangover now, after a decade of (some) awful design and terrible layout.
There’s a shift recently, with some brilliant, fresh, web design too.