The results of the header design tweaks have been announced. The winner, and the strong second place finisher, were the designs that went beyond the brief and created a different look for the menu. To give these designs more time for consideration they won’t be implemented in 2.8, but will be tabled for 2.9.

My general feeling about this is that the ‘winning’ designs went beyond the brief. Instead of just addressing the problem they introduced stylistic changes that were unnecessary to accomplish the goal. I don’t know the motives for doing that, whether they are styles that were previously declined, were alternative designs that hadn’t been presented before or were new designs and they got a bit carried away, but I have to question the result of the poll when people are voting for designs that stick strictly to the brief, versus designs with extra eye-candy that overpower the solution the poll was intended to address.

Am I being too harsh?