Vibe shift and costly signaling.

The article starts out by showcasing the “vibe shift” that web design went through circa 2015. Whereas before photography was front and center, after the shift illustrations became more popular. The author’s theory is that free high-quality photography became available, so the “costly signaling” of brand design moved to something else: custom illustrations. As for the future, “What Unsplash did to photography, DALL·E 2 will do to illustrations, 3D renderings, and eventually all visual styles.” | learn more