Flat Design

Flat design is a simple, graphic style common in UI, software and Web design. In the past, designers at a particular focus on showcasing their skills by portraying flashy illustrations and animations that supposedly wowed their users. Then skeuomorphic design became the trend, attempting to bring real life to the screen with realistic textures and real object characteristics. Today, flat design is popular and sought. It opposes all of these 'artificial' design techniques, in favour of a more simplified, classically digital aesthetic. 

Effective UI Designs

The 4 panel layout of this apps UI is effective as its large enough for the user to easily press and the icon displayed indicates the weather in that area. The lack of drop shadows, outlines and three dimensiality is what makes this an effective piece of flat design.

This design focuses strongly on photography, with text placed over top. The blurring of the image when alot of text is displayed allows the viewer to read and understand it alot easier as opposed to fighting for attention with a detailed photograph. The simplicity of the icons makes this universally a good piece of design.

The colour scheme for this design works nicely, as the colour not only indicates which section of the app you are visiting but also creates reflects the simplicity of the flat design through its minimal use of colour. The list on the right screen is a clean way to create a sharp looking list without the interference of bullet points or numbers. 

The grid of this app works well and indicates hierarchy through the size of each section. The colour scheme works nicely, and helps convey the information displayed without the need of more than one colour (orange). The iconic design is also successful in universally depicting what the weather, temperature and wind will be on the desired day.

Each section of this app displays a different colour, which continues throughout the app. That allows the user to understand where they are in the app alot easier, especially if it contains alot of pages and sub-sections. The subtle drop shadow on the icons portrays a subtle remnance of skeuomorphism, but in this case works well with the rest of the UI flat design.