4 ms·

Do you think that the problem is your grandna is 80 year old? I am in the early thirties and cannot understand the Google Drive and Google photos icons in my ph

Do you think that the problem is your grandna is 80 year old? I am in the early thirties and cannot understand the Google Drive and Google photos icons in my phone. Even the Gmail icon is so similar to all other Google icons I actually need to think hard about what I want, to press the right one. Often I just stare at the icons for 5 seconds. It used to be obvious. Maybe I am mentally challenged :(

chillfox 6y ago
I suspect that it’s this idea that the icons should have a consistent design aesthetic for branding purposes that makes them all look the same. And there’s definitely been a trend towards ever more abstract icon design.
BugWatch 6y ago
There is this photo organizing software, Phototheca [0], which is the best photo organizing software I have found thus far (at least according to my needs and workflow [insert appropriate XKCD here]). A version from a year+ or so ago used nice, colorful icons [1] in the sidebar to access the main functions. The late(st)? They made the icons grayscale... on a gray-ish background [2]. It is really giving me a bad user experience, since I have to stop and read the text every time, instead using the RGB-shorthand (aka color) that is way faster to my brain. This could have been fixed with a simple option in the configuration dialog, but TMK it is not. I guess the flat icons are soon to follow, too. [0] https://lunarship.com/ https://lunarship.com/ [1] https://lunarship.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Phototheca_with_facial_recognition.jpg https://lunarship.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Phototheca_... [2] https://giveawayoftheday.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/b0a13c17ef849f0bf1aee7482817ad78.jpeg https://giveawayoftheday.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/b0a1...
silicon2401 6y ago
I think a little bit of it is due to being old, but being serious, I'm a software engineer and still often find myself baffled by modern design choices. I often hover over icons, hoping that a popup will explain what the button does, or highlight whole web pages that choose to have grey instead of black text. I think we're at a point where designers are just pushing novelty over function to justify their positions. I also agree on the google icons. After years I still get google photos and google drive confused, not to mention youtube and strava (both red/orange-ish icons). I think you're fine, it's design trends that are getting ridiculous

chillfox 6y ago

I suspect that it’s this idea that the icons should have a consistent design aesthetic for branding purposes that makes them all look the same. And there’s definitely been a trend towards ever more abstract icon design.

BugWatch 6y ago

There is this photo organizing software, Phototheca [0], which is the best photo organizing software I have found thus far (at least according to my needs and workflow [insert appropriate XKCD here]). A version from a year+ or so ago used nice, colorful icons [1] in the sidebar to access the main functions. The late(st)? They made the icons grayscale... on a gray-ish background [2]. It is really giving me a bad user experience, since I have to stop and read the text every time, instead using the RGB-shorthand (aka color) that is way faster to my brain. This could have been fixed with a simple option in the configuration dialog, but TMK it is not. I guess the flat icons are soon to follow, too. [0] https://lunarship.com/ https://lunarship.com/ [1] https://lunarship.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Phototheca_with_facial_recognition.jpg https://lunarship.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Phototheca_... [2] https://giveawayoftheday.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/b0a13c17ef849f0bf1aee7482817ad78.jpeg https://giveawayoftheday.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/b0a1...

silicon2401 6y ago

I think a little bit of it is due to being old, but being serious, I'm a software engineer and still often find myself baffled by modern design choices. I often hover over icons, hoping that a popup will explain what the button does, or highlight whole web pages that choose to have grey instead of black text. I think we're at a point where designers are just pushing novelty over function to justify their positions. I also agree on the google icons. After years I still get google photos and google drive confused, not to mention youtube and strava (both red/orange-ish icons). I think you're fine, it's design trends that are getting ridiculous