For my course on memetic product design, I decided to write my non-scientific paper on GUI memes, what trends they followed in the past, and how I can use that information to predict the future of GUI trends. I go into what design memes are, how cultural and technological factors influenced the choice of them in past trends, and why I think that based on current factors, GUI interfaces will use abstraction in service to minimalism.
After writing this paper, I've already found that some of my predictions came true (like with firefox's new GUI).