Why do so many websites look the same? As our tools have improved and we’ve been able to do more with the web, there’s been a growing trend toward websites that look exactly alike. Why did this come to be, and what can we, as designers and curators of the modern web, do to avoid it? In order to answer these questions, we’ll touch briefly on the history of web design, and examine how modern tools and practises have contributed to a more homogeneous-looking internet. We’ll examine the web design process from two perspectives – the designer’s and the developer’s – and discuss how the blurring of those roles impacts the design process. Along the way, we’ll discuss the various merits of following or bucking trends. Finally, I’ll offer some constructive advice to help you – whether you’re a designer or not – add an individual touch to your design work.

1. ask me questions @sarahsemark
triggersandsparks.com/talks/likeness

2. does everything look
why
the same?

9. anyway?
how did we get here

12. tablesto infinity & beyond!

19. rescue!
CSS to the

22. look good
web design starts to

27. where
are we now?

31. It’s easy
to build a website
that looks good…

32. great
…but it’s hard
to build a website
that looks

33. the designer-developer
continuum

34. constraintsare holding us back

35. aesthetics are
temporal

36. aesthetics are
fickle

37. UI conventions are
not a trend

38. design is about
communication

39. are you trying to say?
what

40. don’t be a
sheep
Baa.

41. okay then,
let’s get real.

42. isn’t the enemy
texture

46. get creative with
typography

50. break
out of the box

55. add dynamism with
movement

58. inspiration
can strike anywhere

68. experiment!
go forth and

69. Thank You!
• Geocities screenshots: oneterabyteofkilobyteage.tumblr.com
• internet archives: waybackmachine.org
• artist by my name is mud from the Noun Project
• sheep by gira Park from the Noun Project
• packaging design from lovelypackage.com
• lettering work by Tobias Saul, tobiassaul.de
• fashion editorials by Annie Leibovitz for Vogue US
• film titles via artofthetitle.com
• interiors by Gypsy Yaya via apartmenttherapy.com
• museum photos by Ben Askins and mendhak via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0
• Romeo & Juliet and Othello covers by Manuja Waldia for Penguin
• Bloomberg Business Week layouts by Braulio Amado
ask me questions @sarahsemark
triggersandsparks.com/talks/likeness