When I think about web design, and for that matter digital designed anything in general, I often feel as though there are two forces pulling against one another.

The first force is all around innovation. We all want to design something new, disruptive, more efficient or otherwise more pleasing to use, after all. It’s obvious to talk about and something I believe we all strive to do as a part of our DNA.

The second is The Beautiful Default: Industry standards and well-defined paradigms permeating across all the different design disciplines. I first heard the phrase from my friend Branden Hall. He defined it as such:

When you first start using a library, pattern or framework you get a certain set of things for free: Button styles, ways of laying things out, fonts, whatever. Those are the defaults. If you do nothing to them your site will look just like it’s original creator made — beautiful, but not yours. It’s like cooking boxed macaroni & cheese: It might be faster to eating dinner but you’ll never be wowed by the result.

Doesn’t matter if it’s a code library, a grid system or an icon set: Twitter Bootstrap, flat design, cards as a UI paradigm, share buttons are all Beautiful Defaults.

The web is filled with egregious overuse of Beautiful Defaults. It’s revered to some extent. Crack open Site Inspire and, if you’re anything like me, you’ll see an ocean of websites that manage to look exactly the same. Collectively the sum total of work feels terribly bereft of soul.

Living in Brooklyn, where there’s simultaneously a technology boom and a revival of artisanal craftsmanship, I can’t help but wonder why these two things don’t seem to connect more often.

I’m not arguing that frameworks or patterns are evil. I use them myself, of course. I guess I’m begging you, dear reader, to try something more bespoke next time. Put away the boxed food, break out the fry pans and make something a little unique… even overcooked or a little burnt there’s flavor in the character. The Web is still a new medium. There’s still room to be playful and exploratory. Have fun out there.