“Brutal” Truth
by Bradley Nice, Content Manager at ClickHelp — all-in-one help authoring tool
Brutalism was an architectural movement from the 1950s to the 1970s, focusing on rough, primitive aesthetics. The word, Brutalism derives from French ‘Béton brut,’ which literally means Raw Concrete. It didn’t care to look comfortable or easy. Digital brutalism, as a movement, has no founder or birthplace. It even doesn’t have its Wikipedia page. It was just started by different professionals around the world.
Web brutalism was probably the reaction to corporate perfectionism, where system, order, logic rule, human imperfection, character, and personality are lost — a reaction to web design becoming calculated. Digital Brutalism’s aesthetic is defined by breaking the rules. By definition, digital Brutalism is raw and incomplete.
Architectural Brutalism’s digital manifestation is large, full of gifs, pixelated images, and mismatched fonts with other unique elements that such as sideways text arrangements, vivid colors, etc. Some see it as a difference for the sake of difference. Others as groundbreaking and stimulating. It’s nostalgia for the times of the old web when one had opportunities to gain varied experience. There are lots of examples for this design. BrutalistWebsites.com compiled some of them into a gallery. The range of different designs shows how hard it is to put a singular definition on ‘brutalism.’ It’s many things to many people. There are certain traits so that the design could be considered “brutal”:
- Simple or non-existent navigation
- Lack of symmetry
- Contrasting color palette
- Black or white backgrounds
- No gradients or shadows
- Overlapping elements
- Crowded design
- No distinct hierarchy
- Monospaced typography
- One font used throughout
- Single-page website design
The question is still out: is brutalism good or bad design? As usual, there are two sides to every story — What fits for one brand doesn’t for another. For some brands, brutalism works for the target audience. For others, it’s a choice that they’d never make.
Brutalist web design is bold, in-your-face, and comfortable in its audacity. Impactful web design usually is. That doesn’t make it a bad design choice, but it also doesn’t make it the right one for you. There are benefits and pitfalls, just like most design tactics and strategies. The trick is choosing the right web design aesthetic for your brand, business, or industry.
What do you feel about brutalism? If it touches you to the heart and makes you feel good, maybe that’s enough reason to say that brutalism still has its place in today’s digital world.
Have a nice day!
Bradley Nice, Content Manager at ClickHelp.com — best online documentation tool for SaaS vendors
