5 ms·

This seems like Corporate Memphis absorbing all facets of design. I'm surprised to not find any mention of how infantilizing this is -- childish is absolutely i

This seems like Corporate Memphis absorbing all facets of design. I'm surprised to not find any mention of how infantilizing this is -- childish is absolutely inappropriate. I have always not cared too much about aesthetics for any product where use is the primary factor -- especially since in most cases you can easily customize digital products -- but this trend is really putting me off to the point where I won't use products from companies pushing such designs. To mention some of the most awfully repulsive, having to interact with Travis and MailChimp are always sure to trigger a physical disgust response, and checking Sentry, I was greeted by a similarly awful cartoonish homepage. I can't not think of "cynical company that will sell you to the highest bidder if they can wants to be your BFF, they'll even give you candy!".

giffarage 5y ago
We need much, much more childish things in life, not fewer.
- hwers 5y ago
  I feel completely opposite, but I'm curious where you come from here? Could you say some words to explain what you mean?
- happymellon 5y ago
  I'm fine with my bank not acting childish. It doesn't invoke a feeling of trust, which is important with some of these companies.
- Enjaami 5y ago
  Perhaps you mean childlike, not childish?
  - xboxnolifes 5y ago
    Could you define the two? Because as far as I can tell, most people (even ITT) just use "childish" to mean "things I don't like".
christophilus 5y ago
Definitely not my favorite look, but at least the buttons look clickable. That’s an improvement over having to inspect source in order to distinguish clickable elements from plain text.
wodenokoto 5y ago
I guess you didn’t like windows XP either!
- klodolph 5y ago
  The Windows XP Luna theme is one of the ugliest themes I've ever laid eyes on.
  - kaetemi 5y ago
    Scrap the task bar and window frames, and it's actually pretty nice.
nigerian1981 5y ago
To be fair the article does address the childish criticism: “ One of the major points of criticism is that overusing Claymorphism and going overboard with colors and typography can give off a somewhat childish feel to the UI.”
- happymellon 5y ago
  I'm pretty sure they are saying that any use is childish, not just overuse.
  - nigerian1981 5y ago
    Fair point
micromacrofoot 5y ago
I feel like life could use the levity right now
Ourgon 5y ago
It does actually mention this, about halfway down: One of the major points of criticism is that overusing Claymorphism and going overboard with colors and typography can give off a somewhat childish feel to the UI. Michał Malewicz acknowledged this drawback and gives a few suggestions on how to avoid that. “The friendliness of those shapes, along with the 3d imagery creates a slightly child-like interface. To counter it, it’s good to use minimal typography, strong accent colors good contrast.” — Michał Malewicz There is still room for criticism though since this style of interface is not "somewhat" childish. It is the design language of Fisher-Prize, of large colourful plastic toys for toddlers. If foresee a trend in classical Russian literature inspired user interfaces as a reaction. The Dostoyevsky style, dark and deep.
zozbot234 5y ago
> This seems like Corporate Memphis absorbing all facets of design. I'm surprised to not find any mention of how infantilizing this is -- childish is absolutely inappropriate That's just your impression, though. The Windows XP Luna look felt childish because it was dog slow on XP-era machines compared to the classic theme, so it ended up being pretty disrespectful of its users. But a smooth-shaded high-relief button is arguably the best equivalent to that "Classic" look on our modern, graphically-accelerated, variable-DPI environments. It avoids the overly-detailed skeuomorphic look while still being immediately intuitive.
userbinator 5y ago
It's the far too many rounded corners that triggers the disgust for me.
jamil7 5y ago
At least we seem to have gotten out of the childish period of "oopsie doopsy" style 500 pages. Although I guess we're also in the everything is an SPA period where a website will just break in opaque ways you won't even see an error page.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

giffarage 5y ago

We need much, much more childish things in life, not fewer.

hwers 5y ago
I feel completely opposite, but I'm curious where you come from here? Could you say some words to explain what you mean?
happymellon 5y ago
I'm fine with my bank not acting childish. It doesn't invoke a feeling of trust, which is important with some of these companies.
Enjaami 5y ago
Perhaps you mean childlike, not childish?
- xboxnolifes 5y ago
  Could you define the two? Because as far as I can tell, most people (even ITT) just use "childish" to mean "things I don't like".

christophilus 5y ago

Definitely not my favorite look, but at least the buttons look clickable. That’s an improvement over having to inspect source in order to distinguish clickable elements from plain text.

wodenokoto 5y ago

I guess you didn’t like windows XP either!

klodolph 5y ago
The Windows XP Luna theme is one of the ugliest themes I've ever laid eyes on.
- kaetemi 5y ago
  Scrap the task bar and window frames, and it's actually pretty nice.

nigerian1981 5y ago

To be fair the article does address the childish criticism: “ One of the major points of criticism is that overusing Claymorphism and going overboard with colors and typography can give off a somewhat childish feel to the UI.”

happymellon 5y ago
I'm pretty sure they are saying that any use is childish, not just overuse.
- nigerian1981 5y ago
  Fair point

micromacrofoot 5y ago

I feel like life could use the levity right now

Ourgon 5y ago

It does actually mention this, about halfway down: One of the major points of criticism is that overusing Claymorphism and going overboard with colors and typography can give off a somewhat childish feel to the UI. Michał Malewicz acknowledged this drawback and gives a few suggestions on how to avoid that. “The friendliness of those shapes, along with the 3d imagery creates a slightly child-like interface. To counter it, it’s good to use minimal typography, strong accent colors good contrast.” — Michał Malewicz There is still room for criticism though since this style of interface is not "somewhat" childish. It is the design language of Fisher-Prize, of large colourful plastic toys for toddlers. If foresee a trend in classical Russian literature inspired user interfaces as a reaction. The Dostoyevsky style, dark and deep.

zozbot234 5y ago

> This seems like Corporate Memphis absorbing all facets of design. I'm surprised to not find any mention of how infantilizing this is -- childish is absolutely inappropriate That's just your impression, though. The Windows XP Luna look felt childish because it was dog slow on XP-era machines compared to the classic theme, so it ended up being pretty disrespectful of its users. But a smooth-shaded high-relief button is arguably the best equivalent to that "Classic" look on our modern, graphically-accelerated, variable-DPI environments. It avoids the overly-detailed skeuomorphic look while still being immediately intuitive.

userbinator 5y ago

It's the far too many rounded corners that triggers the disgust for me.

jamil7 5y ago

At least we seem to have gotten out of the childish period of "oopsie doopsy" style 500 pages. Although I guess we're also in the everything is an SPA period where a website will just break in opaque ways you won't even see an error page.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]