4 ms·

Not that Google has a legacy of great design, but don't all these points apply to Material as well?

epistasis 11y ago
Yes, and also to Microsoft's flat UIs these days as well. But that doesn't stop criticism of Apple's UIs from being relevant.
notjustanymike 11y ago
Actually no. Take a look at the Google clock app - it actually addresses a lot of the negatives in this article. The article argues that Apple is bad at UI design, not that flat & material are wrong.
- oneeyedpigeon 11y ago
  Hear, hear. In exactly the same way that some of the current bad design decisions were made as an overreaction to the worst excesses of skeuomorphism, people often exhibit an unwarranted negative reaction to 'flat design', just because some of it -as in Apple's case - is so awful. It is entirely possible to adhere to the concepts behind flat design, yet still differentiate between a label and a button. Just because Apple can't do it, doesn't mean it can't be done.
on_and_off 11y ago
More or less. Microsoft, Apple and Google are all pursuing variations of what can be called flat design. There are many variations in flat design though. In the small details, Google and Apple have as many similarities as differences. One of the differences is that Material relies heavily on shadows (one of the very few good design ideas from the first versions of Android). The most important buttons are usually elevated. Color is also used to inform the user. The accent color of the app is used to color clickable elements. I am currently in the process of implementing material design in a large scale mobile android app. So far it is going extremely well, the new design direction respond to many of our gripes with Holo and is good enough in order to be able to make a strong point with the product team in order to implement it instead of making a frankenmonster between iOS design & Holo like we did in the past. Time will tell how well it performs with our users.
- Pxtl 11y ago
  I'd argue that MS did a great job with flat design in Windows Phone 7 because they were willing to sacrifice aesthetics for consistency. Everything on WP7 was stark black backgrounds, which made it really obvious what was a button - a colored box was always clickable. The moment you let graphic designers in who care about making things look good, flat design falls apart because they want to change it up. Flat works if you let the designers construct the design language and then never let them near the actual individual UIs and get tempted to deviate from their original language.
tdkl 11y ago
Their material "whitespace" design is really functional. /s New Google app: http://imgur.com/HWZDjXK http://imgur.com/HWZDjXK Youtube redesign on an Android tablet: http://imgur.com/a/ciqgD http://imgur.com/a/ciqgD Youtube on a phone makes you realize why they're pushing 5.5"+ phones: https://i.imgur.com/2d0Neg2.png https://i.imgur.com/2d0Neg2.png (yes, that whole large card is an ad, while top 25% of the screen is static) Landscape is even worse: https://i.imgur.com/kEYoHyM.png https://i.imgur.com/kEYoHyM.png
- norea-armozel 11y ago
  Yeah, it's weird how non-vendor apps take their design cues from Apple, Google, and Microsoft but they tone down the obsession with empty/negative space separation which makes it wholly easier to use. Seriously, I don't know why but every time I use the Google Youtube App it's hard for me to focus on what I'm doing. I'm not sure if it's all the empty space or the lack of any explicit separator between items (videos and what not). But it's just harder to use the app than to just open the web browser and get the video that way. :/

Yes, and also to Microsoft's flat UIs these days as well. But that doesn't stop criticism of Apple's UIs from being relevant.

notjustanymike 11y ago

Actually no. Take a look at the Google clock app - it actually addresses a lot of the negatives in this article. The article argues that Apple is bad at UI design, not that flat & material are wrong.

oneeyedpigeon 11y ago
Hear, hear. In exactly the same way that some of the current bad design decisions were made as an overreaction to the worst excesses of skeuomorphism, people often exhibit an unwarranted negative reaction to 'flat design', just because some of it -as in Apple's case - is so awful. It is entirely possible to adhere to the concepts behind flat design, yet still differentiate between a label and a button. Just because Apple can't do it, doesn't mean it can't be done.

on_and_off 11y ago

More or less. Microsoft, Apple and Google are all pursuing variations of what can be called flat design. There are many variations in flat design though. In the small details, Google and Apple have as many similarities as differences. One of the differences is that Material relies heavily on shadows (one of the very few good design ideas from the first versions of Android). The most important buttons are usually elevated. Color is also used to inform the user. The accent color of the app is used to color clickable elements. I am currently in the process of implementing material design in a large scale mobile android app. So far it is going extremely well, the new design direction respond to many of our gripes with Holo and is good enough in order to be able to make a strong point with the product team in order to implement it instead of making a frankenmonster between iOS design & Holo like we did in the past. Time will tell how well it performs with our users.

Pxtl 11y ago
I'd argue that MS did a great job with flat design in Windows Phone 7 because they were willing to sacrifice aesthetics for consistency. Everything on WP7 was stark black backgrounds, which made it really obvious what was a button - a colored box was always clickable. The moment you let graphic designers in who care about making things look good, flat design falls apart because they want to change it up. Flat works if you let the designers construct the design language and then never let them near the actual individual UIs and get tempted to deviate from their original language.

tdkl 11y ago

Their material "whitespace" design is really functional. /s New Google app: http://imgur.com/HWZDjXK http://imgur.com/HWZDjXK Youtube redesign on an Android tablet: http://imgur.com/a/ciqgD http://imgur.com/a/ciqgD Youtube on a phone makes you realize why they're pushing 5.5"+ phones: https://i.imgur.com/2d0Neg2.png https://i.imgur.com/2d0Neg2.png (yes, that whole large card is an ad, while top 25% of the screen is static) Landscape is even worse: https://i.imgur.com/kEYoHyM.png https://i.imgur.com/kEYoHyM.png

norea-armozel 11y ago
Yeah, it's weird how non-vendor apps take their design cues from Apple, Google, and Microsoft but they tone down the obsession with empty/negative space separation which makes it wholly easier to use. Seriously, I don't know why but every time I use the Google Youtube App it's hard for me to focus on what I'm doing. I'm not sure if it's all the empty space or the lack of any explicit separator between items (videos and what not). But it's just harder to use the app than to just open the web browser and get the video that way. :/