A few weeks ago I attended the REMIX Boston even. I wasn’t overly excited about any of the presentations which usually causes my mind to wander. Being a designer I began inspecting the marketing collateral associate with the event and noticed not only a style but what I consider a new trend, “ornamental design”

Here’s an ad for the event:

Notice all the ornamental swirly flower like designs to the left? Their only purpose in this ad is style. It doesn’t provide the user information, directions, venue or any other useful information. It’s purely style. Not only that but it takes up about half of the available ad size. I’ve started to see this style more and more in web design. Check out one of my favorite sites The Web Designer Wall.

I wonder if we’ve somehow moved from the Tuscan (Web 2.0 look and feel) to the Corinthian (ornamental look and feel)?