Trend: Glossy Surfaces

If I had to guess, I’d wager that Steve Jobs’s office has highly-polished black marble floors, and his desk must be smoked glass. His love of glossy surfaces must be the reason Apple’s signature style for several years has featured the wet-floor effect.

Originating with CoverFlow (amazingly, not an Apple invention—just co-opted by them) the dark, smooth reflections spread throughout iTunes and OS X, all the way to Apple’s website and beyond into the furthest reaches of Web 2.0. The wet look has spawned JavaScript engines and PhotoShop tutorials aplenty, but is it time to mop up this trend for good?