Brutalist design has been around since the mid-20th century in architecture and furniture, and in more recent years has been refashioned to digital app design.
So, what actually is Brutalist app design?
Brutalism comes from the French word 'brut', meaning raw. It’s often seen in architecture where buildings look unfinished, with raw materials exposed. In app design, it’s reflected in the lack of designed elements. It tends to strip an app back to its basic HTML and keeps the CSS to a minimum.
The whole point of Brutalist app design is that it doesn't follow the design trends of new. The style stays away from fancy UI elements, and aims to take it back to a "purer form". In doing this, you can argue that taking away the fancy elements creates an easier experience for the user.
What does Brutalist design look like?
Brutalist design can be a lot of different things, and everyone has their own opinions on what it should look like. Most likely being the result of brutalism not wanting to follow design trends. This means that apps or web pages using this style of design can look very different.
From a complete lack of styling - i.e. bare links, default fonts, and no colours. Much like this blank web page by txti;
To a more stylised retro 90s look, with straight edges, bold lines, and pops of colour, like this contact us page created by Elina Frolova.
Or somewhere in between, similar to a swiss modernist design like this webpage for Acronym.
Another example
UX designer Pierre Buttin has made some good examples of what a world of brutalist app design might look like. He has redesigned a series of popular apps to take on a more brutalist style. One such is the google app, where Pierre has removed symbols and simplified colours.
The result is most similar to the 90s retro interpretation, with straight lines and pops of colour - however still using the default blue for most links.
Should you use it?
Brutalist design definitely isn't for everyone. It doesn't follow the current design trends and can easily be viewed as ugly. That said, if you target the right audience, it could really make you stand out from your competitors.
Either way, brutalist app design makes a bold statement, and if that’s what you’re looking for, brutalist might just be the way to go.