4 ms·

A lot of hate here but I think this thing kicks ass. Do you really think that the person who made this does not understand that taste is subjective, rounded co

by pjs_ 4y ago

A lot of hate here but I think this thing kicks ass. Do you really think that the person who made this does not understand that taste is subjective, rounded corners are not necessarily preferred etc? Do you think that they believe that there is only one right way to do things? Of course they don't. That's not the point of the game. They are inviting you to participate in a subjectively chosen design system and see how quickly you can learn and adopt the rules of the game. In the process they are teaching you to pay attention to figures of merit and details that are subtle and foundational. Put it this way - if someone can score highly on this game, I would be much more confident that they are technically competent enough (and thoughtful enough) as a designer to be able to go out and cook up something totally new and different, without rounded corners or whatever. If someone is not able to calmly interpret the good intentions of the game, or if they are not able to quickly adopt the rules of the design system that is presented, then I would be more doubtful of their chances of cooking up great design themselves - although of course it is not at all out of the question.

saurik 4y ago
So I only read your comment and then played the game... and OMG "yes": it kicked ass! For like, 99% of it, I wanted all of the people I work with to be able to at least answer this before building their own controls, as being good with spacing and kerning and shading are critical skills way too many people lack. But... it also had a handful of places that infuriated me--like made me viscerally angry at the state of society level angry, where if you answer the way the game wants you to I hope to not only not hire you but de-friend you :/--and of course none of them were "rounded corners". I then went back to the comments expecting--based on your comments--to waltz back here into a discussion about rounded corners to "lay down the law" about how horribly evil the designers are that agree with stuff like "make the skip button not look like a button so no one knows to click it as it is really really important that we get them to invite their friends for our product virality and KPIs, so you won't get promoted if that number goes down!" and... ...well, you were just wrong about the discussion: almost no one here (hell: I didn't even see a single example, but I was, admittedly, skimming to get the zeitgeist) is arguing about rounded corners :/. (edit: OK, in a more careful read I found one, but it was buried in a more substantial argument. I also don't think it was even correct as I remember the example being about inconsistent border radius, not "corners should be round".) Instead, the vast majority of the comments are about dark patterns and "form should follow function" complaints (as with the aspect ratio of the guitar: the goal of that control is to help a user decide whether to buy the guitar, and if it looks like ass then that matters less than satisfying its job; there are better ways of solving that problem, a la Pinterest's continuous grid, but they are going to cause other problems involving fairness... but like, if we aren't going to do that then, at best, we should be helping the user choose a different photo if we are going to insist on cropping it like that, not just cropping it "because our app looks so fugly with your silly image in it"). There were a few people I saw complaining about contrast, and that was in fact the only other place I lost some points (though, I will admit, in the opposite direction from the people here correctly arguing about accessibility... but, in my defense, I went that direction in my answers due to cynical beliefs about designers: I believed the Search box needed even less contrast as nothing else had been given much contrast ;P).
- btschaegg 4y ago
  > [...] about how horribly evil the designers are that agree with stuff like "make the skip button not look like a button so no one knows to click it as it is really really important that we get them to invite their friends [...] Exactly this is the point I got hung up, too. What I'd like to add, though: There are event wo layers of "evil" here: - The idea that there's a "right" (default) button in a perfectly file selection of two options - The fact that the example doesn't even style the alternative as a button opts to pretty much hide it instead
ranting-moth 4y ago
I agree with you that "this thing kicks ass." I think a good way to really upset people is to tell them that they're wrong. Which I also think is the major factor in the negative comments here. The game does rate your answers either right or wrong and that upsets people when the answer is subjective. It's hard to take criticism, especially if it's negative and/or destructive. I think though that the game author could take in the common theme of the criticism here and update the game. Either by adding textual description or updating the problems. Most brilliant programmers I know are really bad at UI design. Really bad. I think a game like this is very, very helpful to give people the basic tools and jargon to talk and think about UI.

by pjs_ 4y ago

saurik 4y ago

So I only read your comment and then played the game... and OMG "yes": it kicked ass! For like, 99% of it, I wanted all of the people I work with to be able to at least answer this before building their own controls, as being good with spacing and kerning and shading are critical skills way too many people lack. But... it also had a handful of places that infuriated me--like made me viscerally angry at the state of society level angry, where if you answer the way the game wants you to I hope to not only not hire you but de-friend you :/--and of course none of them were "rounded corners". I then went back to the comments expecting--based on your comments--to waltz back here into a discussion about rounded corners to "lay down the law" about how horribly evil the designers are that agree with stuff like "make the skip button not look like a button so no one knows to click it as it is really really important that we get them to invite their friends for our product virality and KPIs, so you won't get promoted if that number goes down!" and... ...well, you were just wrong about the discussion: almost no one here (hell: I didn't even see a single example, but I was, admittedly, skimming to get the zeitgeist) is arguing about rounded corners :/. (edit: OK, in a more careful read I found one, but it was buried in a more substantial argument. I also don't think it was even correct as I remember the example being about inconsistent border radius, not "corners should be round".) Instead, the vast majority of the comments are about dark patterns and "form should follow function" complaints (as with the aspect ratio of the guitar: the goal of that control is to help a user decide whether to buy the guitar, and if it looks like ass then that matters less than satisfying its job; there are better ways of solving that problem, a la Pinterest's continuous grid, but they are going to cause other problems involving fairness... but like, if we aren't going to do that then, at best, we should be helping the user choose a different photo if we are going to insist on cropping it like that, not just cropping it "because our app looks so fugly with your silly image in it"). There were a few people I saw complaining about contrast, and that was in fact the only other place I lost some points (though, I will admit, in the opposite direction from the people here correctly arguing about accessibility... but, in my defense, I went that direction in my answers due to cynical beliefs about designers: I believed the Search box needed even less contrast as nothing else had been given much contrast ;P).

btschaegg 4y ago
> [...] about how horribly evil the designers are that agree with stuff like "make the skip button not look like a button so no one knows to click it as it is really really important that we get them to invite their friends [...] Exactly this is the point I got hung up, too. What I'd like to add, though: There are event wo layers of "evil" here: - The idea that there's a "right" (default) button in a perfectly file selection of two options - The fact that the example doesn't even style the alternative as a button opts to pretty much hide it instead

ranting-moth 4y ago

I agree with you that "this thing kicks ass." I think a good way to really upset people is to tell them that they're wrong. Which I also think is the major factor in the negative comments here. The game does rate your answers either right or wrong and that upsets people when the answer is subjective. It's hard to take criticism, especially if it's negative and/or destructive. I think though that the game author could take in the common theme of the criticism here and update the game. Either by adding textual description or updating the problems. Most brilliant programmers I know are really bad at UI design. Really bad. I think a game like this is very, very helpful to give people the basic tools and jargon to talk and think about UI.