Bright Creative: Brilliant Design Solutions

hadn't visited Dave Shea's professional site since it first launched (bright red on white at the time?) but I was just reading an interview with him and anticipating the new book, so I went and had a look. I'm not sure about the general legibility of the text, but what struck me about the design is the gradient over on the right. Of course everyone's been over-using gradients, it's the next phase after drop shadows and transparent overlays, but I like his twist on it. He's filtered it in such a way that it looks almost like it was painted. From what I've been reading and observing I think there are two directions design is headed in. One is towards clean and flat layouts, lose the gradients and shadows and instead use good proportions and subtle harmonious color palettes. The other is towards more organic design, scripting font faces and organic textures. Dave's gradient is a move towards the later.