4 ms·

The new Apple Watch 4 face is a design crime

11 points by mgiannopoulos 8y ago

brad0 8y ago
I can see where they’re coming from. TBH though when I look at my watch with complications I want to see a specific complication (date, upcoming appointment, etc). I’m not trying to take in every piece of information on the watch at once. I’m guessing the author of the article doesn’t own a smart watch.
maybeiambatman 8y ago
The face reminds me of my 4 year old cousins coloring back. It's an explosion of incoherent colors.
SurrealSoul 8y ago
Reminds me of when I got rainmeter and _needed_ to display everything at all times in fancy circle graphs
wmblaettler 8y ago
While cluttered and busy, yes, this shows all possible complications on the watch face. You can choose a very minimal display to this and everywhere in between.
zdrummond 8y ago
I think the author is not familiar with watches in general. You have always been able to choose very complex and "busy" faces if you want to have easy and quick access to information. Just do a quick images search for "high end watch complications" and you will see plenty of very expensive watches that commit the same supposed "design crime"
- theoh 8y ago
  Yes, but the point is surely that "complications" are not what "design", as an activity, is about. Watch complications are about showing off technical expertise (for the maker) and wealth (for the wearer). That has very little to do with the (admittedly moralistic) consensus about what good design should be.
squarefoot 8y ago
Next model will use rotating variable length strings in place of the hands.
lowlevel 8y ago
I don't feel this criticism is warranted. The spoken portion that went along with the unveiling of this watch face was admitting this was ridiculously trying to show all the measurements/indicators possible to make the 'ultimate sports watch'... at least, that's how I interpreted it.
huebnerob 8y ago
Thank god this piece was so short that it only wasted mere seconds of my time. If author has any semblance of a point to make, it’s well hidden.
teilo 8y ago
Author misses an essential point: A UI is only "too busy" if the user can't quickly find the information they are looking for. By that measure, this is a non-issue, and people will love it, specifically because they can quickly get the info they are looking for without having to open an app.

11 points by mgiannopoulos 8y ago

I can see where they’re coming from. TBH though when I look at my watch with complications I want to see a specific complication (date, upcoming appointment, etc). I’m not trying to take in every piece of information on the watch at once. I’m guessing the author of the article doesn’t own a smart watch.

maybeiambatman 8y ago

The face reminds me of my 4 year old cousins coloring back. It's an explosion of incoherent colors.

SurrealSoul 8y ago

Reminds me of when I got rainmeter and _needed_ to display everything at all times in fancy circle graphs

wmblaettler 8y ago

While cluttered and busy, yes, this shows all possible complications on the watch face. You can choose a very minimal display to this and everywhere in between.

zdrummond 8y ago

I think the author is not familiar with watches in general. You have always been able to choose very complex and "busy" faces if you want to have easy and quick access to information. Just do a quick images search for "high end watch complications" and you will see plenty of very expensive watches that commit the same supposed "design crime"

theoh 8y ago
Yes, but the point is surely that "complications" are not what "design", as an activity, is about. Watch complications are about showing off technical expertise (for the maker) and wealth (for the wearer). That has very little to do with the (admittedly moralistic) consensus about what good design should be.

squarefoot 8y ago

Next model will use rotating variable length strings in place of the hands.

lowlevel 8y ago

I don't feel this criticism is warranted. The spoken portion that went along with the unveiling of this watch face was admitting this was ridiculously trying to show all the measurements/indicators possible to make the 'ultimate sports watch'... at least, that's how I interpreted it.

huebnerob 8y ago

Thank god this piece was so short that it only wasted mere seconds of my time. If author has any semblance of a point to make, it’s well hidden.

teilo 8y ago

Author misses an essential point: A UI is only "too busy" if the user can't quickly find the information they are looking for. By that measure, this is a non-issue, and people will love it, specifically because they can quickly get the info they are looking for without having to open an app.