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The Interface itself is a type of artwork. Like all art, it must grow and change to stay relevant, or stagnate and be left behind on the Island of Irrelevant To

The Interface itself is a type of artwork. Like all art, it must grow and change to stay relevant, or stagnate and be left behind on the Island of Irrelevant Toys. Like many things, it's a conversation between designers, and sometimes happy accidents do get made and dark avenues are explored. Architecture[0] is one example of a design (basically a cave) growing and changing to stay relevant and reflect current use and needs. Recent trends have been moving away from the "monolithic" styles of the Cold War Era and specifically including blocks that stick out and have a very different color. Also, some fire codes allow the upper few floors of an apartment structure to be made from wood[1], so long as all the floors below the first few are concrete. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_architectural_styles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_architectural_styl... [1] http://marks-thomas.com/2015/03/exploring-a-shift-to-five-story-wood-frame-construction/ http://marks-thomas.com/2015/03/exploring-a-shift-to-five-st...

DougWebb 9y ago
A user interface is a tool to connect the computer and a human user in order to allow a task to be performed. Unless these three components change, the only reason for the interface to change is to make it do its job more efficiently. It's no different from the many other tools used by people to do their jobs. Once they reach an optimal form, they stop changing unless some drastic technological change occurs. Hand-tools for woodworking hadn't changed for centuries, until electricity was introduced. Electric hand-tools have only had small gradual improvements since then.
- tripzilch 9y ago
  Well, something did change, otherwise it would not have gotten as big as it did. What changed was the role of the user in the eyes of whatever entity controlled the computer/cloud. If the uncertainty was actually a bad thing in the eyes of the big cloud companies that pushed these designs, it would not have nearly gotten as far as it did. It's a way to control how the tool is used, given that it's powerful, making it too usable is not profitable.
Angostura 9y ago
> Like all art, it must grow and change to stay relevant, No, it really doesn't. It can change, if change is necessary, however most change in UI design is driven by fashion.
- stephengillie 9y ago
  And fashion is a conversation, much like software language development is a conversation - a free exchange of ideas. The same concepts are not normally repeated verbatim, but iterated around, in a specific direction, if there is an obvious direction to go - otherwise in a random walk, like a lost hiker. Circumideation.
blub 9y ago
Interface design is nothing like art. It must serve a purpose and be useable at least.
- jaclaz 9y ago
  Whether it is an art or not (which is debatable) the point is that it needs to be ergonomic and usable, possibly in an intuitive way. The article measures what would otherwise be obvious, more visible whatevers are seen by users easier and faster.
  - bfu 9y ago
    The only intuitive user interface is nipple. Everything else has to be learned!
    - flushandforget 9y ago
      And that can be stuffed up with prior bottle use, so not so sure if that's even true.

DougWebb 9y ago

A user interface is a tool to connect the computer and a human user in order to allow a task to be performed. Unless these three components change, the only reason for the interface to change is to make it do its job more efficiently. It's no different from the many other tools used by people to do their jobs. Once they reach an optimal form, they stop changing unless some drastic technological change occurs. Hand-tools for woodworking hadn't changed for centuries, until electricity was introduced. Electric hand-tools have only had small gradual improvements since then.

tripzilch 9y ago
Well, something did change, otherwise it would not have gotten as big as it did. What changed was the role of the user in the eyes of whatever entity controlled the computer/cloud. If the uncertainty was actually a bad thing in the eyes of the big cloud companies that pushed these designs, it would not have nearly gotten as far as it did. It's a way to control how the tool is used, given that it's powerful, making it too usable is not profitable.

Angostura 9y ago

> Like all art, it must grow and change to stay relevant, No, it really doesn't. It can change, if change is necessary, however most change in UI design is driven by fashion.

stephengillie 9y ago
And fashion is a conversation, much like software language development is a conversation - a free exchange of ideas. The same concepts are not normally repeated verbatim, but iterated around, in a specific direction, if there is an obvious direction to go - otherwise in a random walk, like a lost hiker. Circumideation.

blub 9y ago

Interface design is nothing like art. It must serve a purpose and be useable at least.

jaclaz 9y ago
Whether it is an art or not (which is debatable) the point is that it needs to be ergonomic and usable, possibly in an intuitive way. The article measures what would otherwise be obvious, more visible whatevers are seen by users easier and faster.
- bfu 9y ago
  The only intuitive user interface is nipple. Everything else has to be learned!
  - flushandforget 9y ago
    And that can be stuffed up with prior bottle use, so not so sure if that's even true.