I have a deep rooted issue with development and developers.
In 90’s, ActionScript trend was picking up steam reaching a climax in mid-2000’s. Flash websites were springing up, taking advantage of animations and sound; while UI elements sought transparency and blur (Windows Vista). That trend passed and then we had the whole ES6 boom in 2012-2015, the entire web was sabotaged by JavaScript frameworks. Frontend libraries were very popular. Cookie-cut DOM abstraction, one-page apps, launchpad dependencies, etc. Post JavaScript world saw some radical shift in small circles: Elm, Crystal, demos and hacked shenanigans whilst the mainstream development kept on drinking the JavaScript koolaid up until forever.
Traditional development has largely been “solved” by the 1960’s - aka, BASIC or C for majority of needs. Of course you’re not gonna have FORTRAN on a modern website. For the curious, google some books by Brian W Kernighan - they still appear to be relevant in 2019. That’s timelessness.
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In all seriousness, it's a mistake to say that 1 style -- The International/Swiss Style -- can solve all of design's needs. You are purposely forgetting that design relies heavily on taste. Not the designer's taste, but the customer's taste. When I go shopping for organic shampoo, I have an idea of what "organic shampoo packaging" looks like. It's beige, probably has a plant on it, etc. Tastes change, and they change constantly and organically. Changing tastes are a moving target for designers to hit, or if they're lucky they can arrive there early. Also, it's a sign of "freshness" to update your design from time to time. People expect things to update and "get better", both visually and functionally. Similar to fashion, design does not always have to be rationale and objectively beautiful -- it just has to suit it's customer's tastes.
I have to admit, this made me laugh more than I’m willing to admit.
It is a mistake to equate software development with graphic design. To compare C with International Style sounds promising on the surface, rings all kinds of bells but your analogy breaks down as follows.
Machine code > ASM > C > Java > Python > Django framework > Web apps > Saas. This is a hierarchical abstraction. So comparing C to JavaScript is comparing different abstraction layers. Writing C is not suitable for web apps so much as designing a font from scratch to put a webpage together is not a productive use of your time.
International Style is not a lower abstraction or “building” block for design. It is a framework of principles.
The other factor is that the human brain has not substantially changed in 50 years, and design with the goal of conveying information efficiently is going to rest on principles based on the way our brains work, and that isn't changing.
> You are purposely forgetting that design relies heavily on taste.
Not only that, it ignores how culturally-dependent design is. Sometimes in really big, fundamental ways -- take, for example, the fact that in China, the color red is heavily associated with luck, joy, and happiness. A big part of design is understanding and incorporating these kinds of local knowledge; at the end of the day, design is a process, not a destination.
Much like art, it's impossible to truly separate design from the greater context of the world at large.
In 90’s, ActionScript trend was picking up steam reaching a climax in mid-2000’s. Flash websites were springing up, taking advantage of animations and sound; while UI elements sought transparency and blur (Windows Vista). That trend passed and then we had the whole ES6 boom in 2012-2015, the entire web was sabotaged by JavaScript frameworks. Frontend libraries were very popular. Cookie-cut DOM abstraction, one-page apps, launchpad dependencies, etc. Post JavaScript world saw some radical shift in small circles: Elm, Crystal, demos and hacked shenanigans whilst the mainstream development kept on drinking the JavaScript koolaid up until forever.
Traditional development has largely been “solved” by the 1960’s - aka, BASIC or C for majority of needs. Of course you’re not gonna have FORTRAN on a modern website. For the curious, google some books by Brian W Kernighan - they still appear to be relevant in 2019. That’s timelessness.
__
In all seriousness, it's a mistake to say that 1 style -- The International/Swiss Style -- can solve all of design's needs. You are purposely forgetting that design relies heavily on taste. Not the designer's taste, but the customer's taste. When I go shopping for organic shampoo, I have an idea of what "organic shampoo packaging" looks like. It's beige, probably has a plant on it, etc. Tastes change, and they change constantly and organically. Changing tastes are a moving target for designers to hit, or if they're lucky they can arrive there early. Also, it's a sign of "freshness" to update your design from time to time. People expect things to update and "get better", both visually and functionally. Similar to fashion, design does not always have to be rationale and objectively beautiful -- it just has to suit it's customer's tastes.