--- title: The Flattening of Design description: The Flattening of Design image: https://www.pkgbranding.com/hs-fs/file-4101450583-jpg/blog-files/bits-flatdesign-tmagarticle-300x1721.jpg --- [![PKG Packaging](https://www.pkgbranding.com/hubfs/PKG%20Jan20%20-%20assets/pkg-logo.png) ](https://www.pkgbranding.com/) [![Hangar12](https://www.pkgbranding.com/hubfs/Hanger%20Image/Hanger-12.webp) ](https://www.hangar-12.com/) [312.870.9101](tel:+1.312.870.9101) # Consumer First Insights ## The Flattening of Design Written by Kevin Keating at PKG Flat design is become the stylistic choice for technology companies, partly driven by the constraints of smartphones, and also with a hope to escape the look of digital design. Is it also beginning to permeate new brands and packaging? ![Flat Design - NY Times Bits blog](https://www.pkgbranding.com/hs-fs/file-4101450583-jpg/blog-files/bits-flatdesign-tmagarticle-300x1721.jpg?width=300&height=172&name=bits-flatdesign-tmagarticle-300x1721.jpg)It might sound audacious to think that Microsoft, the arbiter of uncool, was at the forefront of design a few years ago. But it was. It turns out the company's decision to focus on "flat design," a type of visual scheme where everything has a smooth and even look, was a few years ahead of the rest of the technology and user interface industry. While Microsoft was flattening its interfaces as if it were a child pushing down on a bulge of putty, its competitors - including Apple and Facebook -- were focused on skeuomorphism, a type of look in which, say, a note-taking feature on a Web site or in an app would look like a spiral-bound notebook, a reference to the real world look of a notebook. Now everyone seems to be following in those flat footsteps. 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