---
title: "Which Design Era Are We In?"
description: "Explore the evolution of web and app design from static 90s websites to modern SPAs. Key shifts in UX/UI that shaped how startups build products today."
categories: ["product"]
keywords: ["web design evolution","app design trends","Single Page Applications","UX/UI design history","Google Material Design","Apple design language","interactive web design","design eras","Tomasz Tunguz","Theory Ventures"]
ai_summary: "Explore the evolution of web and app design, highlighting key trends from static pages to modern interactive experiences."
date: 2024-09-03
lastmod: 2026-07-23
canonical_url: https://www.tomtunguz.com/which-design-era/
author: "Tomasz Tunguz"
---

When the internet became popular in the 1990s, websites were static & adopted the design language of their creators : blue links & images.

![image](https://res.cloudinary.com/dzawgnnlr/image/upload/bfhzipmmwg1txm9ttavk.png)
Then, we added interactivity with Javascript. In 2005, Gmail claimed the title of most sophisticated app. Soon there after, Google Maps enabled interactivity in the browser for 2D maps.  


![image](https://res.cloudinary.com/dzawgnnlr/image/upload/svzxagmonpmsdmhdwalo.png)
Next, the first mobile apps were launched. FourSquare introduced real-time location, which persists as a feature in Snapchat & Uber 


![image](https://res.cloudinary.com/dzawgnnlr/image/upload/tccqv36xxrlpuld83ulk.webp)
*image credit: [Fast Company](https://www.fastcompany.com/1669015/foursquare-solves-a-basic-ui-problem-that-eludes-google-maps-and-yelp)*

Google's Material Design unified Android & web design with blocky, bright colors. 

![image](https://res.cloudinary.com/dzawgnnlr/image/upload/imsqran0wysnuo0gopr5.png)


At the same time Apple launched Helvetica Neue with its operating system Yosemite. That design language dominated the fundraising pitch designs of the epoch starting with Apple events : black backgrounds, thin fonts, & smooth transitions.


![image](https://res.cloudinary.com/dzawgnnlr/image/upload/xbdfqryu1ieexthrlnqd.png)

Six years later, the Single Page App (SPA) became the dominant design pattern bringing smoothness & interactivity in client applications to websites. The [SPA](https://www.epineda.net/the-rise-single-page-applications/) was a response to the slow load times of the previous era & created web pages that were typically longer & changed as a person scrolled.



![image](https://res.cloudinary.com/dzawgnnlr/image/upload/qux3iqa9nf4rt3ihibw3.gif)

*image credit : [George Petrov](https://medium.com/wappler-io/enhance-the-user-experience-with-single-page-apps-43a8228c4646)*

Current design has perfected the SPA with smooth transitions & a deliberate feeling of progressive reveal.

![image](https://res.cloudinary.com/dzawgnnlr/image/upload/o8uejvzjjdmhdbg436oc.gif)
Today, state-of-the-art AI design looks like this. 


![image](https://res.cloudinary.com/dzawgnnlr/image/upload/buifip9edsvkxnu0gbmh.png)

It's hard not to draw a parallel with the Yahoo page of 1999. What will the next design era look like? The one built for AI?