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I like most of the ideas but I would love it if more "concept artists" would pay attention to how it would actually work in the whole user experience. This is o

by uzero 14y ago

I like most of the ideas but I would love it if more "concept artists" would pay attention to how it would actually work in the whole user experience. This is one of the better concepts but too many times you see these god awful "what I demand from the next version" concepts that have features that would be unbelievable annoying when you actually have to see/use every time you use the device.

saurik 14y ago
This feeling is even worse/stronger if you are, like I am, on the receiving end of streams of ideas like this. (For context: I run Cydia, the alternative to apps for jailbroken iPhones, where you find tons of "Substrate extensions", which are self-contained functionality modifications for other software applications, including the default Apple UI.) There are a ton of designers out there that seem to believe that developers are not idea people, and that we need concept art and mockups (either videos or Photoshop) in order to build new things. I often describe the concept with the metaphor of an arrogant painter that believes that sculptors are somehow bereft of imagination and would somehow appreciate being told "here: you should sculpt this painting", and then being given beautiful paintings that would make impractical or impossible sculptures--or even simply ones that look great in 2D from a fixed angle but would be awkward from other angles in 3D. In fact, we often have come up with the same ideas, but either a) can actually build such things, --and thereby feel "talk is cheap" or "anyone can build a mockup"--but have not been able to get around to it yet as it is hard or low priority, or b) have actually built it, maybe five times now, but it didn't actually live up to the promise of the idea somehow. Put differently: I end up being bothered by people Ho believe that "concept artist" describes, rather than "a conceptual artist" (a kind of modern art that some may or may not appreciate ;P) and instead a stage in the pipeline of construction (the guy who makes the concepts, as opposed to the mere implementer) that is critical and missing otherwise. To be clear, not the reuse of the term, as one normally does see "concept designer", but the very idea that that second position should, or even can, exist. We are /all/ artists using different mediums, and to convey our ideas to others we use many different kinds of prototyping tools, from "Photoshop mockups" to "slideware". When you label yourself "concept artist" only, I feel like you are just saying "artist, but without the interest in actually creating or the skill in the underlying medium to do so". These two bereftments then combine to cause the lack of "attention to how it would actually work in the whole user experience" that you describe.

by uzero 14y ago

saurik 14y ago

This feeling is even worse/stronger if you are, like I am, on the receiving end of streams of ideas like this. (For context: I run Cydia, the alternative to apps for jailbroken iPhones, where you find tons of "Substrate extensions", which are self-contained functionality modifications for other software applications, including the default Apple UI.) There are a ton of designers out there that seem to believe that developers are not idea people, and that we need concept art and mockups (either videos or Photoshop) in order to build new things. I often describe the concept with the metaphor of an arrogant painter that believes that sculptors are somehow bereft of imagination and would somehow appreciate being told "here: you should sculpt this painting", and then being given beautiful paintings that would make impractical or impossible sculptures--or even simply ones that look great in 2D from a fixed angle but would be awkward from other angles in 3D. In fact, we often have come up with the same ideas, but either a) can actually build such things, --and thereby feel "talk is cheap" or "anyone can build a mockup"--but have not been able to get around to it yet as it is hard or low priority, or b) have actually built it, maybe five times now, but it didn't actually live up to the promise of the idea somehow. Put differently: I end up being bothered by people Ho believe that "concept artist" describes, rather than "a conceptual artist" (a kind of modern art that some may or may not appreciate ;P) and instead a stage in the pipeline of construction (the guy who makes the concepts, as opposed to the mere implementer) that is critical and missing otherwise. To be clear, not the reuse of the term, as one normally does see "concept designer", but the very idea that that second position should, or even can, exist. We are /all/ artists using different mediums, and to convey our ideas to others we use many different kinds of prototyping tools, from "Photoshop mockups" to "slideware". When you label yourself "concept artist" only, I feel like you are just saying "artist, but without the interest in actually creating or the skill in the underlying medium to do so". These two bereftments then combine to cause the lack of "attention to how it would actually work in the whole user experience" that you describe.