Goodbye Flat Design - welcome Fluent Design (2/12/25)

We've had Flat Design for around 12 years at this point - since 2013. And while I think it's corporate and boring, I still feel sentimental over it going away. I grew up with Frutiger Aero and Flat Design, so I would just like to take a moment to post a picture of Windows 10 - the digital behemoth that started the digital trend of going flat.

Yeah, it was hated on launch, and the aesthetic is especially boring to look at now, especially if you know anything about me, but I just feel like giving a sendoff to even one of the more corporate designs just feels right. It didn't last 12 years for nothing, I guess.

With every company adopting Flat Design in the early 2010's, and it persisting for over a whole decade, it was about time for it to wither. Y2K and Frutiger Aero had lasted for a bit less time anyways - atleast an entire year less. In a continuously developing world, especially one for the digital age, aesthetics would always have to change in order to ensure people are happy and content.

So what's the next aesthetic that people feast on, especially after Flat Design had people so bored that people desperately begged for change?

Fluent Design/Cybermorphism, an aesthetic that had roots in late 2010 but has only been popularized late last year.

I'm sure it seems kind of obvious just by looking at the image - but it's a mixture of Flat Design and the return of Skeuomorphism, an integral part of Frutiger Aero that had been lost during the switch to Flat Design. I'm lowkey a little excited too - while having parts of Flat Design back is sorta boring and honestly not the most interesting - the mixture of Skeuomorphism creates this look that I actually do immensely like. It's gonna look way better to see actual shadows on icons now, to see actual color, instead of just a flat color with a white silhouette, like Windows 10 popularized.

It's not named perfectly yet - after all, Frutiger Aero was actually named pretty far into it's lifespan - but Fluent Design's name comes from the fact that Microsoft had popularized this aesthetic with something called their Fluent 2 Design System, which used the Fluent Design artstyle that has been super popular.

And again, while Microsoft is the pioneer for the digital aesthetic like they have been before, it's not just Microsoft doing it. Services like Reddit, Android, Apple, and hell, even Nintendo has felt in touch with the aesthetic. That new Pocket TCG game that everyone (including me) is addicted to is a prime example of Fluent Design - atleast the version we have of it right now as I write this blog post.

I like it, honestly. I don't know the general consensus on it yet because again, this is only speculated to be the next big design aesthetic and it's also awfully new in the mainstream - but the fact we're going to be getting away from Flat Design is good enough for me. I'm just happy that we're finally getting somewhere again.

Is it Frutiger Aero? Nah, not at all. That'll obviously forever be my favorite aesthetic. But it's interesting nontheless, and I'm interested to see the speculated takeover of this aesthetic late this year or in 2026.