Blue is the colour of banking

Since the appearance of the world wide web during the early 1990s, the interface of the internet has undergone a radical metamorphosis. From being a primitive, text-based medium, it has become an advanced and complex hyper-medium representing multiple forms of design. Initially, the web mainly was a playground for private experiments. However, as ever more culturally sensitive companies and organisations entered the scene, it became more professionalized. Consequently a certain degree of standardisation took place. The development of web design converged into particular groups and genres. These were based on similarity of content and style and were structured according to cultural taxonomies created by professionals and producing and mediating particular forms of identity, brands and tastes. With this, an increased ambition to differentiate aspects of style became an integral part of the internet and a basis for the assertion of individuality and the development of particular design norms and values.