web 2.0 design

There's sooo much flutter and excitement about web 2.0. (Web 2.0 can be summed up as a handful of new generation Internet sites and companies that are providing new, valuable, web-based applications and tools.) There's also something very important taking place on the creative side.

We're experiencing a revolution in web-based applications, and there's a revolution in Internet design going on here as well. Take a look at backpackit, delicious, flock, and other web 2.0 companies, and you'll see something that they all have in common. Simple. Straight-forward. Down to earth. Blog-like. There's an identifiable look and feel to the web 2.0 so far, and smart businesses will take notice.

Web 2.0 applications exude trust. They're friendly and inviting. And everything's easy to understand. Users are responding to this, and becoming accustomed to the new style. They're also much more about communicating and sharing than any of their predecessors. This will surely impact design for other types of sites as well. Here's an excellent opportunity for a microsite for that new product launch, for that online sales presentation or any promotional Internet site that you might be considering.

A real opportunity exists to be early to market, and get recognized for fresh thinking and a new perspective. Motherbrand is an excellent example, in my opinion (design work done by another firm). There's actually a fair amount of content in this gallery - yet it's overall design is simple, elegant, and cool.

This might not be the most appropriate design approach for your official site - unless you're one of those companies that's always evolving and re-inventing your brand online (and we love you for that). Who knows what the long term trend effect is here - but there's an immediate short term trend that every product or brand manager should be watching closely. Web 2.0 is here, don't fear, get used to it.