4 ms·
UI Design can be timeless in the sense that it becomes the adopted standard for specific usage by a given culture and that this culture by default uses the solu
by ThomPete 8y ago
UI Design can be timeless in the sense that it becomes the adopted standard for specific usage by a given culture and that this culture by default uses the solution so much that everyone knows it's meaning.
It's however not because of some objective universal criteria but instead that no other solution has been needed which made it worth changing that standard.
Intuition is learned within the confines of the culture that understand the reference.
The desktop metaphor isn't timeless it's just one that society has invested enough time that it becomes shared understanding
In that sense, it's not different than a language where no specific word or sentence or meaning is objective in itself but rather points to something that "everyone" understands.
- blueboo 8y agoThis gets at the crux of it, if you take "timeless" literally: UI is culture. And what made culture is timeless? The undergraduate discussion group might hit on Shakespeare, the Pyramids, the King James Bible, or Portal II. In the end there's no common ground except that the value of culture itself is context-sensitive. Anyway, it's all a red herring because "timeless" in this article is misused; the author just means "classic"
- ThomPete 8y agoYup agree. Classic is a much better expression as it doesn't falsely imply some sort of objective criteria.
- bloaf 8y agoAn ancient Sumerian ledger: https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1250/0*7LNb7XKpR6vAdsBH.png https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1250/0*7LNb7XKpR6vAdsBH.... A ledger from the 1700s: https://recordoffice.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/d2375m-277-10_0002.jpg https://recordoffice.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/d2375m-277-... I think there are some UIs that almost perfectly fit the function; and they are the candidates for timelessness.
- ThomPete 8y agoThese are extreme exceptions and hardly the point of the article.
- tim333 8y agoThe ancient Sumerian one looks a bit like Excel. I think there are some limitation as to how you can lay stuff out and what the human brain is happy with. It's not all culture. Like with a lot of sites with flashy weird shit I use a reader view extension to make it look like books and pages have looked for centuries. Not so much because its the fashion but it's just clearer that way.