Things are looking quite familiar these days. From online shops to social apps, even streaming TV, much of our online ecosystem feels like copies of copies. We may have mastered the science of making things easy-to-use and highly efficient for conversions, but the resulting effect is a pervasive sameness that isn’t good for business or good for people.

How did we get here? When did our collective attention shift away from designing and creating things that were original and great and focus instead on optimising and scaling existing ideas towards the median?

This phenomenon isn’t isolated, but rather is just one example of a cyclical pattern in business: as industries scale, creativity often takes a backseat. But when did this particular cycle begin? Let’s wind the clock back 10 years.