Cyberspace Article #1 - Web Design Clichés

This article I'm summarizing was made by Stuart Brown on the 18th of June this year. It's also published in the United Kingdom. Brown talks about the graphic design trends that have been increasingly popular during this year and critically analyses the impact these cliches have been overused throughout growing websites. He grows through the top eight cliches of 2006 and pinpoints examples and the irritatingness about them.

1. Excessive use of Gradients - designers have become too dependent on them.
2. Odd Names and Misplaces Dots - because of the shortage of domain names
3. 45 Degree Diagonal Striped Backgrounds
4. Big Fonts
5. White Backgrounds - used to look professional, now it's plain and boring
6. Wet Floor Effect
7. Pixel Fonts
8. Tag & Folksonomy

Impact? I think this article does say something about the trends on the internet. At first I didn't understand what the big deal was, and why Brown was criticizing these design techniques as I enjoyed seeing them around the internet. What I do understand now, and what I didn't notice before, is that EVERYONE is using at least one of these techniques on their website that it's almost become unwritten laws among web designers. This impacts my outlook incredibly on the way I see popular designs using those techniques now, and I can see how people are not coming up with exciting new ways to attract people's attention without resorting to at least one of those ways on the list. I didn't see that generalization before I read that article, and now I can see how the trends on the internet affect people's impression on the website and how much they keep their attention or read their website.