Basically, but it can still be a good one. Dieter Rahms had a pretty good design trend going for instance. :)
All design is going to feel dated somehow, even though we can't imagine it in the moment, but I think the flat design is going to age very gracefully compared to a lot of the design memes today.
I disagree, there is a lot of design that still feels quite modern, especially within furniture (Dieter Ram’s famous shelving system holds up quite well for instance). If you go for a timeless style it’s usually the technology limitations (size for the product for instance) that gives away the design.
I meant design within software is always going to feel dated eventually, because we don't have finalized hardware products like Ive's and Rams's products.
There isn't really an idea of software design that's extricable from the viewport, and that what I mean is going to make it look dated eventually.
And that "Regalsystem" is from 1960. Claude Garamond's typeface from ~1550 [1] still is the high standard for book typefaces. This is excellent design.
True, and very interesting. None of the software currently out could be called timeless. Maybe timeless user interface design has simply not been found yet? Closest are probably the first apps that came out with the Macintosh. But everything since then... Nah.
This is in stark contrast with Apple hardware which is pretty much universally timeless designs. Particularly the iPhone 4 and 5 - I am willing to bet they will still look great 20 years from now.
> I am willing to bet they will still look great 20 years from now.
Good design is timeless because it holds inherent characteristics that are not subject to time, it's not exactly about how great it looks or think it would look years from now, this is a side-effect.
I'll give an example. If you compare an IKEA spoon and a renaissance spoon, you'll notice quite a few differences besides the 1800 one looking dated. The recent ones handle better, have better weight, avoid spills, use materials that don't tarnish, etc.
Now contrast this with the japanese hashi (chopsticks). It consists of a pair of bamboo sticks cut at a certain angle and it's design hasn't changed for centuries. It has been perfected, reduced to the essentials, and does it's job still to this day. It's timeless, good design, and by consequence looks great - it's form and shape unconsciously emanate all these characteristics to us.
> True, and very interesting. None of the software currently out could be called timeless. Maybe timeless user interface design has simply not been found yet?
UIs are relatively new, but I would argue command prompts are one example of UI that withstood the test of time, while the WIMP metaphor seems to be fading away with touch devices.
All design is going to feel dated somehow, even though we can't imagine it in the moment, but I think the flat design is going to age very gracefully compared to a lot of the design memes today.