I was intrigued by a phrase in a brief we received recently: "visual characteristics: web 2.0". It brought to mind a range of horrors, but above all I was left with the impression that web 2.0 was now being seen as a visual style, not a strategic shift towards a richer, more functional and socially connected internet.
But is it true? Has web 2.0 become a way of referring to a particular visual style?
Unfortunately, I suspect that few site owners see it as anything but a style. And to a degree, I don't blame them - it has become increasingly difficult to recognise one modern web service from another. The 'web 2.0 style' is alive and well, and it's becoming hard to imagine a trendy web service that launches without it.
The simple truth is that it has become a visual trend. Without their logos and names, are any of these services different enough from each other to be called distinctive?
No, they're not - and it can't be too long before we get the backlash. Unless, of course, this is more than a style trend: the beginning of a new 'web application' user interface standard.
There's some value to this idea: we know that typical users like similarities and consistencies, so perhaps this standardisation of the visual treatment of modern web apps is a good thing. Certainly, if we could see a new behavioural standard emerging there would be genuine benefits for Joe public.
Unfortunately, the trend is a shallow one at this point, and I can't see it lasting. Differentiation has been one of the basics of successful business for, well, forever - and it's unlikely to change now. While similarity brings benefit to users (or consumers, or customers, or any other term you care to use), differentiation brings benefit to the bottom line. If I can get you into my site, deliver my services in a distinctive way, and build your loyalty to it, I will benefit. Everything else - if I've done my job well - will feel unfamiliar and somehow wrong.
Right now we have a trend towards a particular type of visual styling becoming popular. And that's it. Very little effort seems to be going into genuine personality-building: and that flies in the face of everything we have learned about how to build brand loyalty.
One obvious reason for the current state of things is borne out of an examination of who's behind many of the trendier services out there: small companies and individuals. Bright people doing great things - often with pioneering ideas - in a nascent marketplace.
As time passes, this trend will inevitably shift towards a more established pattern: major organisations building distinctive brand properties that they can market on a mass scale and defend. Or, in a few cases, the small will become large and take the same steps.
'Design' is a great differentiator. People go and look for an Apple thing, or a Dyson thing, or a Nike thing. They equally buy into quirky, niche brands that they associate with (and will often pay more to get). And in every case, where brand loyalty is strongest, a design ethic permeates the whole proposition.
So, what happened to design here? The process of solving the problem and delivering a service that is well suited to the target customer, and distinctive enough for the brand owner to invest in marketing seems to have been forgotten. At present, everyone is jumping on the same visual bandwagon, styling their new web apps in the same way. Which in turn suggests that they're all very much targeted at the same people, all of whom are exclusively receptive to this particular approach.
That's both unlikely and an incredibly risky gamble. We will end up with the same scenario that we have seen in markets like insurance comparison where there is so little differentiation between the players that success is largely down to who spends the most on buying traffic.
We have to see more differentiation in the market - and we will. As the marketplace matures, more time and effort will be put into designing more thoroughly: creating modern, innovative web services that stand further apart from each other.
Ultimately, it's down to confidence. Today, 'me too' is the easy way to arrive in the market credibly. Tomorrow, 'me, me me!' will become the norm... let's hope it doesn't take too long.