The announcement of the discontinuation of the iPod has made me very nostalgic for mid-2000s Apple: bright, colourful designs that popped and made you feel a bit of magic every time you sat in front of the computer.

The days before flat design (shudder).

I have often wondered though whether the more bland style of design we see today was inevitable: the loud designs of Aqua and XP would be too fatiguing in an era when most have lost the distinction of being online and being offline; those people need UIs that blend into the background rather than UIs that try to make you feel something special.