What does "brutalism" actually mean?
In his column «What Does It Actually Mean…?,» Benno Maggi explains terms from the fields of marketing and communication. This time, he explores the noun «Brutalism» in the context of UI/UX design.
Anyone who visits hip websites and wonders why navigation is made so difficult and big, bold words scream at you doesn't understand what's going on in UI/UX design. Brutalism is what it's called, and what it means is not to design "grad z'leid" websites in a way that the common user has just learned.
Gone are the days of horizontal or vertical navigation, and hamburger is also so-so noughties design. Brutalism or "brutal design" is full of raw interactions, coupled with micro-interactions that deliberately break with our viewing habits. So no more user-friendliness! Hello, design courage and resistance against user habits.
Design concrete mixers are in demand
In marketing, it used to be "brick & mortar vs. online," i.e., real world vs. digital world, but today it's called omni-channel marketing. The digital and the analog must work together.
That is perhaps why the UI/UX community made use of a word that originated in the analog world and is somewhat outdated: Brutalism. In architecture, it was once either celebrated as a model of modern architecture or labeled as a concrete bunker. No wonder, since the term derives from this very building material: "béton brut," or exposed concrete. The pioneer of this style was Le Corbusier, who in 1947, as his late work, permanently changed the cityscape of Marseille with his gray Unité d'Habitation blocks of flats, thus cementing the way for a new architectural style himself.
UI/UX designers, on the other hand, focus on simple navigation in their interpretation of Brutalism, turning hand-coded HTML into digital concrete. Let's hope that the online Le Corbusiers will adopt not only his non-conformism and willingness to experiment, but also his genius. Then perhaps the users of such websites will accept the inconveniences involved - with respect for the art.
* Benno Maggi is co-founder and CEO of Partner & Partner. He has been eavesdropping on the industry for over 30 years, discovering words and terms for us that can either be used for small talk, pomposity, excitement, playing Scrabble, or just because.
