The Cyclical Nature of Design: From Minimalism to Ornamentation and Back Again
By
nikodunk
4mo ago· 4 min readenInsight
90/100
Golden Brown
Bagelometer↗
A five-star bake. Worth schmearing, sharing, saving.
Score90TypeanalysisSentimentneutral
Summary
The article explores the cyclical nature of design trends across various fields, particularly focusing on architecture and art history. It examines how societies oscillate between minimalist, clean styles and ornate, decorative approaches, using examples like Romanesque architecture (Abbey Church of St James, 1206) versus Gothic architecture (Notre Dame, 1345) to illustrate this pattern. The author suggests this cycle extends beyond traditional arts to other design fields including software development.
Key quotes
· 5 pulledArt history shows us that we tend to move between adding 'unnecessary' elaborate decorations to clean styles and back again.
It's almost an endless cycle repeated over and over.
This cycle happens in the different arts and other fields where design is involved, like software.
Let's trace it in architecture first.
Take a moment to appreciate all the decorations in the second picture not present in the first one.
Art history shows us that we tend to move between adding "unnecessary" elaborate decorations to clean styles and back again. It's almost an endless cycle repeated over and over. This cycle happens in the different arts and other fields where design is inv
