4 ms·

The Future of Design Is More Than Making iOS Flat

21 points by mef 13y ago

programminggeek 13y ago
I think that design is as much about a feel as it is about a style and getting that feel into users lives is the experience in user experience. Making something outstanding is about making something that people love, like really, really love. Creating an experience with a "hook" is as important as style ever is. The iPhone experience has a hook, Xbox Live has a hook, Facebook has a hook, twitter has a hook, HN has a hook and that experience hook has nothing to do with what the UI looks like right now or in the future. People loved/hated seukomorphic design, but that misses the point. If it enables a particular experience that hooks/delights users, then it's a good thing. If not, it's a bad thing, but the merits of the style itself sort of lives outside of the actual product design discussion IMO.
- pedalpete 13y ago
  I really like your comment, however, we can't ignore the visual appeal as well, and that visual appeal can be the hook. If AngryBirds wasn't cartoonish, and had a cold interface with only dots and blocks, it would cease to be as entertaining, and therefore the design is key to the user experience. This isn't only true in games. The hooks of Facebook were similar to the hooks of myspace, but myspace became difficult to interpret, where Facebook remained easy to read while being less about the perceived style of your friends. Your comment makes me think you're saying, make sure you don't have a pig before you put lipstick on it.
  - programminggeek 13y ago
    I am not saying you can't ignore visual appeal at all. I'm just saying that visual appeal should serve to enhance the hook, and when well done it really makes a great total package, but the design itself is not the hook. For example, modern PC laptops basically are ripping off the design of the Macbook Air, with varying results. Yet, one thing Apple does consistently well is the trackpad and somehow in almost every review I read, the trackpad of every PC laptop doesn't match well with the MBA. They never feel right, even if they look very, very similar. It might feel like a very small thing, but that little bit of hardware design and software drivers changes how the user feels about what might otherwise look like comparable hardware. At the same time, I don't mean to discount the design or graphics when done well. A game like Borderlands takes a great gameplay experience with a fantastic hook (random loot drops/rpg elements), and the graphics helps add a vibe all its own. A different graphical style and it would look like a different take on Gears of War, Fallout 3, or Call of Duty... Anyway, I think we are on the same page.
joe_the_user 13y ago
Clearly the future of design is Metro. Metro is the cleanest and most design-driven GUI ever. And, well, users hate it so much it really has made a ding in Microsoft's earnings. But full steam ahead! Static graphic beauty and usability aren't the same either on the desktop or with phones and tablets. But given sufficient monopoly power, no one has to care. The tragedy is the GUIs got to "functional enough" sometime in the early 2000's and so they are fated simply get worse since more functional isn't a selling point. And on the "it's phones, not laptops" point - people do fewer tasks with phones than laptops. They'll never do more tasks with phones than laptops and so
- camus 13y ago
  that flat fad is out in a year like every other fad before it. Metro already feels old. and wphones are clearly a commercial failure.
  - Zigurd 13y ago
    That's right. "Flatness" isn't a goal. The goal is to wash out compromises and compensatory strategies forced by the state of display technology, by whatever design direction improvements may lead to. Skeumorphism isn't inherently tacky. There is plenty of design outside of computer UI design that uses it artistically and tastefully. But it is on the outs for a good reason now. Transparency is a similar issue. A few years ago I was working on a UI framework for VoIP devices. The target display technology could not adequately support transparency even though the designers made a strong case for it for a small display on other grounds. The outcome wasn't "transparency bad." It was "transparency can't be done right on our devices."
- jared314 13y ago
  I keep wondering if the advances in "flat design" are a side effect, coming more from the chance to rework existing interfaces, than the actual flatness. Like rewriting legacy code after you have a better understanding of how the code is, or will be, used.
- Zigurd 13y ago
  Metro is just a theme. Placing too much emphasis on Metro is going to lead to disappointment. Themes, like lapel widths, go out of style. The success of transitioning Windows to touch devices rests on other factors than the Metro look: Are the APIs for touch apps too limited? What is the evolutionary path for desktop apps? So far, it remains an open question. "Modern" touch apps on Windows are limited compared to desktop apps, and are not taking off. Migrating desktop apps, or adapting them to touch is no more satisfactory than it was on previous attempts at putting Windows on tablets. I doubt Microsoft can force a win without fixing these problems. Google has given them plenty of time by not seizing the tablet opportunity as vigorously as they conquered handsets. But, by next year, you will see tablets displace laptops and desktops, rather than augment them. Sales of replacement PCs has already taken a hit. Now they will start to age-out.
nfg 13y ago
Anyone interested in the point about Mondrian would enjoy (the sadly recently deceased) Robert Hughes' documentary series “The Shock of the New” — it's available on YT starting here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_8y0sQ0HME http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_8y0sQ0HME

21 points by mef 13y ago

I think that design is as much about a feel as it is about a style and getting that feel into users lives is the experience in user experience. Making something outstanding is about making something that people love, like really, really love. Creating an experience with a "hook" is as important as style ever is. The iPhone experience has a hook, Xbox Live has a hook, Facebook has a hook, twitter has a hook, HN has a hook and that experience hook has nothing to do with what the UI looks like right now or in the future. People loved/hated seukomorphic design, but that misses the point. If it enables a particular experience that hooks/delights users, then it's a good thing. If not, it's a bad thing, but the merits of the style itself sort of lives outside of the actual product design discussion IMO.

pedalpete 13y ago
I really like your comment, however, we can't ignore the visual appeal as well, and that visual appeal can be the hook. If AngryBirds wasn't cartoonish, and had a cold interface with only dots and blocks, it would cease to be as entertaining, and therefore the design is key to the user experience. This isn't only true in games. The hooks of Facebook were similar to the hooks of myspace, but myspace became difficult to interpret, where Facebook remained easy to read while being less about the perceived style of your friends. Your comment makes me think you're saying, make sure you don't have a pig before you put lipstick on it.
- programminggeek 13y ago
  I am not saying you can't ignore visual appeal at all. I'm just saying that visual appeal should serve to enhance the hook, and when well done it really makes a great total package, but the design itself is not the hook. For example, modern PC laptops basically are ripping off the design of the Macbook Air, with varying results. Yet, one thing Apple does consistently well is the trackpad and somehow in almost every review I read, the trackpad of every PC laptop doesn't match well with the MBA. They never feel right, even if they look very, very similar. It might feel like a very small thing, but that little bit of hardware design and software drivers changes how the user feels about what might otherwise look like comparable hardware. At the same time, I don't mean to discount the design or graphics when done well. A game like Borderlands takes a great gameplay experience with a fantastic hook (random loot drops/rpg elements), and the graphics helps add a vibe all its own. A different graphical style and it would look like a different take on Gears of War, Fallout 3, or Call of Duty... Anyway, I think we are on the same page.

joe_the_user 13y ago

Clearly the future of design is Metro. Metro is the cleanest and most design-driven GUI ever. And, well, users hate it so much it really has made a ding in Microsoft's earnings. But full steam ahead! Static graphic beauty and usability aren't the same either on the desktop or with phones and tablets. But given sufficient monopoly power, no one has to care. The tragedy is the GUIs got to "functional enough" sometime in the early 2000's and so they are fated simply get worse since more functional isn't a selling point. And on the "it's phones, not laptops" point - people do fewer tasks with phones than laptops. They'll never do more tasks with phones than laptops and so

camus 13y ago
that flat fad is out in a year like every other fad before it. Metro already feels old. and wphones are clearly a commercial failure.
- Zigurd 13y ago
  That's right. "Flatness" isn't a goal. The goal is to wash out compromises and compensatory strategies forced by the state of display technology, by whatever design direction improvements may lead to. Skeumorphism isn't inherently tacky. There is plenty of design outside of computer UI design that uses it artistically and tastefully. But it is on the outs for a good reason now. Transparency is a similar issue. A few years ago I was working on a UI framework for VoIP devices. The target display technology could not adequately support transparency even though the designers made a strong case for it for a small display on other grounds. The outcome wasn't "transparency bad." It was "transparency can't be done right on our devices."
jared314 13y ago
I keep wondering if the advances in "flat design" are a side effect, coming more from the chance to rework existing interfaces, than the actual flatness. Like rewriting legacy code after you have a better understanding of how the code is, or will be, used.
Zigurd 13y ago
Metro is just a theme. Placing too much emphasis on Metro is going to lead to disappointment. Themes, like lapel widths, go out of style. The success of transitioning Windows to touch devices rests on other factors than the Metro look: Are the APIs for touch apps too limited? What is the evolutionary path for desktop apps? So far, it remains an open question. "Modern" touch apps on Windows are limited compared to desktop apps, and are not taking off. Migrating desktop apps, or adapting them to touch is no more satisfactory than it was on previous attempts at putting Windows on tablets. I doubt Microsoft can force a win without fixing these problems. Google has given them plenty of time by not seizing the tablet opportunity as vigorously as they conquered handsets. But, by next year, you will see tablets displace laptops and desktops, rather than augment them. Sales of replacement PCs has already taken a hit. Now they will start to age-out.

nfg 13y ago

Anyone interested in the point about Mondrian would enjoy (the sadly recently deceased) Robert Hughes' documentary series “The Shock of the New” — it's available on YT starting here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_8y0sQ0HME http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_8y0sQ0HME