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While I have seen another comment: ,,why?’’ and agree with it, I’d like to expand on it. For a long time I thought that switching away from 3d buttons, getting

While I have seen another comment: ,,why?’’ and agree with it, I’d like to expand on it. For a long time I thought that switching away from 3d buttons, getting to less colors was only frustrating me and other techies who like how things were done before (I love the original iPhone aesthetics for example). But a few months ago my father died, my mother is left alone 73 years old, far from me, and I try to help her through phone (and sometimes remote sessions), but it’s extremely frustrating that she can’t tell me what buttons there are on the screen, because she can’t make a difference between buttons and text. With more black and white, I even can’t tell her what color to look for. And the worst thing is that when she can’t achieve something she needs to (like pay a bill), her blood pressure goes up, and she has to take medications with serious side effects. I’m very angry at companies that don’t test changes with old people whose life and health at this point depends on being able to use digital services.

gfaregan 5y ago
Wouldn't making the emojis more font-like be less confusing to someone who has difficulties with computers?
clearleaf 5y ago
Most people in my family older than me used to be fine with computers. They're much harder to use and more confusing these days.
- vineyardmike 5y ago
  The first “computer” my grandmother used was an iPad. She has no idea how the pictures of her grandchildren end up on the screen with the envelope button (Email App). If I handed her a Mac (or god forbid windows) she would be way more confused. Even one 20yo. Today, the UI is more graphic and more simple than ever before BUT it’s decreasingly connected to the expectations of desktop computing. Many here on HN who grew up and professionally use desktop OSes have lamented the changes (“they’re bringing iOS to the Mac!”) that’s simply because we already had an idea of what idioms and UI patterns to look for. At the same time, we’re generating new patterns that aren’t grounded in historic imagery (and maybe have no research at all) and this is hard for everyone. Especially websites and internet activités. One example is the “x” to close a window. On a traditional computer, closing the window stops the application and it’s done. Meanwhile, minimizing the app keeps it just shifts the view. On a phone, you don’t really stop the application you just shift view back to Home Screen (you can force close but it’s not really needed). Phones don’t have the same UI at all as windowed devices. So it’s less clear what you’re doing on them. But websites… closing them stops them and today many websites are basically apps.
zebracanevra 5y ago
I don't understand this criticism in relation with this new "black and white" font. All (non-emoji) fonts are monochrome, and the designer will change the colour as they see fit. Most emoji fonts OTOH were always the same colour regardless of the surrounding text, making designs harder. This font allows it to be coloured and bolded, making it easier to use in a cohesive design. Colour is a key affordance, and this font only makes it easier to achieve a good UX.
- xiphias2 5y ago
  ,,Colour is a key affordance, and this font only makes it easier to achieve a good UX.'' What mono color setting of the doughnut emoji makes it easier for my old mother to recognize the doughnot over showing one with multiple colors? How does being able to specify the color for the empty / non empty battery symbols make it harder to achieve bad UX? At this point making it hard to achieve bad UX by UX designers should be preferred over making it easier to achieve good UX, as designers don't have the capability to do user testing on a huge variety of people.
  - OJFord 5y ago
    Don't use this font for your mother then? The rest of us aren't forced to use XL sized text because some people need it, I don't see why emoji colour should be any different.
    - xiphias2 5y ago
      I just checked for status bar icon packs, and while I can change the icons themselves (and probably the foreground/background color), there's no way to get rid of mono color....the color feature has gone forever.
      - msrenee 5y ago
        What app are you using that has already adopted this font?
      - 5y ago
sdoering 5y ago
I never thought about the a11y implications of flat design for people not being able to translate 3d/physical aspects of the world like buttons onto flat colored (or b/w) elements. Thanks for pointing these out.
newaccount74 5y ago
It's not just old people. All people are helped by color clues. Before Jon Ive banned color, Mac and iPhone apps were full of colors. You could easily distinguish toolbar buttons by little colorful icons. It made it really easy to use the app, since locating the button with the yellow icon was really easy. Then came the decolorisation, and suddenly all color was gone and all the distinctive icons were replaced with monochrome glyphs that all look exactly the same. The abstract design makes for a very clean design, but every time I open Mail I have to consciously look at the buttons to figure out which one is trash vs. archive vs. spam.
syspec 5y ago
If your mom has an iPhone. She can share her screen with you while your on a call
- xiphias2 5y ago
  That sounds great, maybe I should do that. I was using TeamViewer for Android, but the problem was that it hid the screen at the most important parts, and the hardest parts for my mom: accepting second factor authentication and banking apps. She doesn't see the difference between the notification and a real window with action button for example (I will teach it to her when I visit her soon). Right now the simplest thing is that I just take over everything from her and pay all the bills, just tell her to forward me the emails and pay everything with my credit card...at least using email is very simple for her.

gfaregan 5y ago

Wouldn't making the emojis more font-like be less confusing to someone who has difficulties with computers?

clearleaf 5y ago

Most people in my family older than me used to be fine with computers. They're much harder to use and more confusing these days.

vineyardmike 5y ago
The first “computer” my grandmother used was an iPad. She has no idea how the pictures of her grandchildren end up on the screen with the envelope button (Email App). If I handed her a Mac (or god forbid windows) she would be way more confused. Even one 20yo. Today, the UI is more graphic and more simple than ever before BUT it’s decreasingly connected to the expectations of desktop computing. Many here on HN who grew up and professionally use desktop OSes have lamented the changes (“they’re bringing iOS to the Mac!”) that’s simply because we already had an idea of what idioms and UI patterns to look for. At the same time, we’re generating new patterns that aren’t grounded in historic imagery (and maybe have no research at all) and this is hard for everyone. Especially websites and internet activités. One example is the “x” to close a window. On a traditional computer, closing the window stops the application and it’s done. Meanwhile, minimizing the app keeps it just shifts the view. On a phone, you don’t really stop the application you just shift view back to Home Screen (you can force close but it’s not really needed). Phones don’t have the same UI at all as windowed devices. So it’s less clear what you’re doing on them. But websites… closing them stops them and today many websites are basically apps.

zebracanevra 5y ago

I don't understand this criticism in relation with this new "black and white" font. All (non-emoji) fonts are monochrome, and the designer will change the colour as they see fit. Most emoji fonts OTOH were always the same colour regardless of the surrounding text, making designs harder. This font allows it to be coloured and bolded, making it easier to use in a cohesive design. Colour is a key affordance, and this font only makes it easier to achieve a good UX.

xiphias2 5y ago
,,Colour is a key affordance, and this font only makes it easier to achieve a good UX.'' What mono color setting of the doughnut emoji makes it easier for my old mother to recognize the doughnot over showing one with multiple colors? How does being able to specify the color for the empty / non empty battery symbols make it harder to achieve bad UX? At this point making it hard to achieve bad UX by UX designers should be preferred over making it easier to achieve good UX, as designers don't have the capability to do user testing on a huge variety of people.
- OJFord 5y ago
  Don't use this font for your mother then? The rest of us aren't forced to use XL sized text because some people need it, I don't see why emoji colour should be any different.
  - xiphias2 5y ago
    I just checked for status bar icon packs, and while I can change the icons themselves (and probably the foreground/background color), there's no way to get rid of mono color....the color feature has gone forever.
    - msrenee 5y ago
      What app are you using that has already adopted this font?
    - 5y ago

sdoering 5y ago

I never thought about the a11y implications of flat design for people not being able to translate 3d/physical aspects of the world like buttons onto flat colored (or b/w) elements. Thanks for pointing these out.

newaccount74 5y ago

It's not just old people. All people are helped by color clues. Before Jon Ive banned color, Mac and iPhone apps were full of colors. You could easily distinguish toolbar buttons by little colorful icons. It made it really easy to use the app, since locating the button with the yellow icon was really easy. Then came the decolorisation, and suddenly all color was gone and all the distinctive icons were replaced with monochrome glyphs that all look exactly the same. The abstract design makes for a very clean design, but every time I open Mail I have to consciously look at the buttons to figure out which one is trash vs. archive vs. spam.

syspec 5y ago

If your mom has an iPhone. She can share her screen with you while your on a call

xiphias2 5y ago
That sounds great, maybe I should do that. I was using TeamViewer for Android, but the problem was that it hid the screen at the most important parts, and the hardest parts for my mom: accepting second factor authentication and banking apps. She doesn't see the difference between the notification and a real window with action button for example (I will teach it to her when I visit her soon). Right now the simplest thing is that I just take over everything from her and pay all the bills, just tell her to forward me the emails and pay everything with my credit card...at least using email is very simple for her.