7 ms·

The problem with all these crazy textures, drop shadows, and chunky buttons, is that they get tacky very quickly. While plain simple layouts are timeless.

oneeyedpigeon 7y ago
Both extremes are poor. One is tacky and distracting. The other provides very poor usability. IMO, Windows 95-era UI elements were probably optimal.
crimsonalucard 7y ago
Nothing in nature is that flat or that simple. Millions of years of evolution have made our eyes adapted to look at things with texture. The idea of creating interfaces that only convey information that is needed does not mesh with human nature. A good analogy for this is exercise. You would think that the more you use a machine the more wear and tear it will gain. Counter intuitively our bodies are designed to be used and are actually more healthy the more you use it. Same with the world our eyes interact with. You would think our user interfaces should be minimal but our eyes are designed to work with noise. Flat interfaces don't really exist in nature and they should not exist in UI. I propose a new design movement. Like the Paleo diet, I call it Paleo design.
- ScottFree 7y ago
  > I call it Paleo design Go for it. Come up with some rules + create some examples + market the hell out of it + charge for training classes = profit!
  - crimsonalucard 7y ago
    Arrows are artificial to the eyes. They never existed in nature. However, people have been recognizing hand signals for years. Paleo design involves replacing all flat arrows with a photorealistic picture of a hand curled into a fist with the index finger pointing at the subject. That's a free lesson in paleo design for you!
    - lainga 7y ago
      Next, we'll be simplifying the hand down to a few strokes in a well-defined order, and...
      - crimsonalucard 7y ago
        Right, the optic nerve between the eye and the human brain has finite bandwidth. As a designer you want to minimize the information traveling across the wire to maximize efficiency. An arrow represents the minimum amount of strokes needed to convey the needed information. I shall call this minimal form of design "minimalism!"
    - yissp 7y ago
      We've found evidence of bows and arrows from at least 60k years ago. I think that plenty old enough to qualify as "paleo" :)
alxlaz 7y ago
People are going to misuse any design guideline -- that doesn't say anything about the guidelines themselves. Plain, simple layouts lend themselves to abuse just like textures, shadows and chunky buttons. The results are equally silly -- your average super-flat, plain, simple layout with flat, simple icons is as annoying to interact with as the tackiest Winamp skin you can remember. Skeumomorphism has become this mythical beast that supposedly meant every interface was hard to use, cluttered and unintuitive. But we actually had a lot of very good, very useful interfaces back when it was a thing. In fact most programs written after GUIs became common enough had pretty good interfaces. Outrageous skins and things like Kai Power Tools were exceptions, not the norm.
- baddox 7y ago
  > People are going to misuse any design guideline -- that doesn't say anything about the guidelines themselves. I think it says a lot. Just like with diet plans, compliance rates are important in design guidelines. It’s not good enough to say “my guidelines are great if followed strictly” when no one seems to follow them strictly.
weego 7y ago
I'm not convinced a design principle based off of a vacuum moulded plastic aesthetic is going to age well either.
egypturnash 7y ago
I don't think the discipline of computer user interfaces has been around long enough to say anything is "timeless". I am sure people making advertising art in the 1950s thought their work was "timeless" too but from a modern perspective there sure is a distinct look; today's Apple-led "minimalism" will probably look just as archaic most of a lifetime later.
- pacaro 7y ago
  ¿Apple-led "minimalism"? IIRC apple were the last to get off the skeumorphism train. Microsoft's metro look was the first significant player in this round of the minimalist trend
fiblye 7y ago
People thought Windows 8 looked awful when it launched 8 years ago. It looks awful now. People have been complaining about flat design since it got introduced, but entry level designers have been forcing it for a whole decade now all while users have been complaining about being unable to find out what’s even usable. It’s a timeless mistake, that’s for sure.

oneeyedpigeon 7y ago

Both extremes are poor. One is tacky and distracting. The other provides very poor usability. IMO, Windows 95-era UI elements were probably optimal.

crimsonalucard 7y ago

Nothing in nature is that flat or that simple. Millions of years of evolution have made our eyes adapted to look at things with texture. The idea of creating interfaces that only convey information that is needed does not mesh with human nature. A good analogy for this is exercise. You would think that the more you use a machine the more wear and tear it will gain. Counter intuitively our bodies are designed to be used and are actually more healthy the more you use it. Same with the world our eyes interact with. You would think our user interfaces should be minimal but our eyes are designed to work with noise. Flat interfaces don't really exist in nature and they should not exist in UI. I propose a new design movement. Like the Paleo diet, I call it Paleo design.

ScottFree 7y ago
> I call it Paleo design Go for it. Come up with some rules + create some examples + market the hell out of it + charge for training classes = profit!
- crimsonalucard 7y ago
  Arrows are artificial to the eyes. They never existed in nature. However, people have been recognizing hand signals for years. Paleo design involves replacing all flat arrows with a photorealistic picture of a hand curled into a fist with the index finger pointing at the subject. That's a free lesson in paleo design for you!
  - lainga 7y ago
    Next, we'll be simplifying the hand down to a few strokes in a well-defined order, and...
    - crimsonalucard 7y ago
      Right, the optic nerve between the eye and the human brain has finite bandwidth. As a designer you want to minimize the information traveling across the wire to maximize efficiency. An arrow represents the minimum amount of strokes needed to convey the needed information. I shall call this minimal form of design "minimalism!"
  - yissp 7y ago
    We've found evidence of bows and arrows from at least 60k years ago. I think that plenty old enough to qualify as "paleo" :)

alxlaz 7y ago

People are going to misuse any design guideline -- that doesn't say anything about the guidelines themselves. Plain, simple layouts lend themselves to abuse just like textures, shadows and chunky buttons. The results are equally silly -- your average super-flat, plain, simple layout with flat, simple icons is as annoying to interact with as the tackiest Winamp skin you can remember. Skeumomorphism has become this mythical beast that supposedly meant every interface was hard to use, cluttered and unintuitive. But we actually had a lot of very good, very useful interfaces back when it was a thing. In fact most programs written after GUIs became common enough had pretty good interfaces. Outrageous skins and things like Kai Power Tools were exceptions, not the norm.

baddox 7y ago
> People are going to misuse any design guideline -- that doesn't say anything about the guidelines themselves. I think it says a lot. Just like with diet plans, compliance rates are important in design guidelines. It’s not good enough to say “my guidelines are great if followed strictly” when no one seems to follow them strictly.

weego 7y ago

I'm not convinced a design principle based off of a vacuum moulded plastic aesthetic is going to age well either.

egypturnash 7y ago

I don't think the discipline of computer user interfaces has been around long enough to say anything is "timeless". I am sure people making advertising art in the 1950s thought their work was "timeless" too but from a modern perspective there sure is a distinct look; today's Apple-led "minimalism" will probably look just as archaic most of a lifetime later.

pacaro 7y ago
¿Apple-led "minimalism"? IIRC apple were the last to get off the skeumorphism train. Microsoft's metro look was the first significant player in this round of the minimalist trend

fiblye 7y ago

People thought Windows 8 looked awful when it launched 8 years ago. It looks awful now. People have been complaining about flat design since it got introduced, but entry level designers have been forcing it for a whole decade now all while users have been complaining about being unable to find out what’s even usable. It’s a timeless mistake, that’s for sure.