Eli has really disappointed me with this series, which is sad since Part 1 was pretty good, in my opinion. It's really easy to rag on the progression of design paradigms without offering any alternatives. I like what he did with the Apple Watch mockup, but really he hasn't considered the user. For the user, flat design and burger menus work right now. Design will always change and evolve. In a few years we will have new paradigms that users will enjoy more. That's how it has always been, that's how it always will be. But to suggest that what was designed on the web in 2005 was better than what we have now is just plain stupid.

I know that homogenization in app design is wrong and looks bad. But to me it seems he is suggesting that apps should be designed differently just for the sake of being different. That's the most backwards thinking I've seen in design. Design is nothing more than the best way we can show content to users. Design is supposed to be invisible. Why make obnoxious dimensional buttons when the user just wants to quickly analyze and understand the content they are looking at? The main reason apps have become so similar is because when they open one app, they can understand it better since it's displayed in a similar design language to another app they have already used. Apps who differentiated from that trend lost their user base.

I agree with another commenter here. These articles just feel clickbaity and sensationalist now.