3 ms·

Clever, but light comes from the sky (it always comes from the sky in nature...light from below weirds us out). It's probably poor design to have shadows rotati

Clever, but light comes from the sky (it always comes from the sky in nature...light from below weirds us out). It's probably poor design to have shadows rotating throughout the day. Might be more friendly to have the shadows play like real shadows (never going above the object). Source: http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TV_Tropes_Flashlight_Image_5440.jpg http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TV_Tropes_Flash...

meesterdude 12y ago
This. Light from below is unnatural. Also, I think this generally would confuse users. I visit at 10AM it looks one way, I visit at 3PM it looks another, and I have no idea why as a user. Even if you paired it with other elements, you've still got the shadow all over the place. I remember about 10 years ago watching a guy in school build a site that had a header that would have full sunrise-sunset based on your time in cute artwork. If you gave your location, it would display current weather too. So OP, I think this has limited use; but its good to explore and experiment and see what you end up with. Perhaps with more thought/iterations you'll end up with something really amazing.
- dwild 12y ago
  It would confuse users? Having a shadows on your logo that can take 4 different positions would confuse the users?
hemmer 12y ago
I pictured looking top-down at the object, for which the shadow seemed quite natural?
- SwellJoe 12y ago
  Do you work with your screen laying flat, such that you're looking down on it? I'm not being argumentative; there is a history of the "desktop" metaphor, where it did seem sort of like the user was looking down on it from above. That particular approach to the metaphor seems to have faded deep into history. Not saying it's wrong, just that we seem to have moved somewhere else with UI, and I feel like a corkboard with pieces of paper tacked to it is a more fitting analogy for the way many of our current desktops work. The way shadows are used in most current desktops match that metaphor more closely than objects on a horizontal "desk" surface. And, given that we never use screens sitting flat on a horizontal surface (even the Microsoft Surface evolved to go vertical). The ergonomics of staring straight down is pretty awful. Our heads get really heavy at that angle, causing back pain. Edit: Some "desktop" metaphor UIs where a "top-down" light source might logically lead to OPs shadow design: http://blog.codinghorror.com/content/images/uploads/2006/05/6a0120a85dcdae970b0120a86d6338970b-pi.png http://blog.codinghorror.com/content/images/uploads/2006/05/... http://kruzeniski.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/how_print_is_future_interaction_12.jpg http://kruzeniski.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/how_print_i... Even the modern take (Bumptop for Mac) seems needlessly cluttered and cumbersome to manage. Then again, I prefer tiled interfaces, so I lean toward the extreme on the other end of the spectrum.

meesterdude 12y ago

This. Light from below is unnatural. Also, I think this generally would confuse users. I visit at 10AM it looks one way, I visit at 3PM it looks another, and I have no idea why as a user. Even if you paired it with other elements, you've still got the shadow all over the place. I remember about 10 years ago watching a guy in school build a site that had a header that would have full sunrise-sunset based on your time in cute artwork. If you gave your location, it would display current weather too. So OP, I think this has limited use; but its good to explore and experiment and see what you end up with. Perhaps with more thought/iterations you'll end up with something really amazing.

dwild 12y ago
It would confuse users? Having a shadows on your logo that can take 4 different positions would confuse the users?

hemmer 12y ago

I pictured looking top-down at the object, for which the shadow seemed quite natural?

SwellJoe 12y ago
Do you work with your screen laying flat, such that you're looking down on it? I'm not being argumentative; there is a history of the "desktop" metaphor, where it did seem sort of like the user was looking down on it from above. That particular approach to the metaphor seems to have faded deep into history. Not saying it's wrong, just that we seem to have moved somewhere else with UI, and I feel like a corkboard with pieces of paper tacked to it is a more fitting analogy for the way many of our current desktops work. The way shadows are used in most current desktops match that metaphor more closely than objects on a horizontal "desk" surface. And, given that we never use screens sitting flat on a horizontal surface (even the Microsoft Surface evolved to go vertical). The ergonomics of staring straight down is pretty awful. Our heads get really heavy at that angle, causing back pain. Edit: Some "desktop" metaphor UIs where a "top-down" light source might logically lead to OPs shadow design: http://blog.codinghorror.com/content/images/uploads/2006/05/6a0120a85dcdae970b0120a86d6338970b-pi.png http://blog.codinghorror.com/content/images/uploads/2006/05/... http://kruzeniski.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/how_print_is_future_interaction_12.jpg http://kruzeniski.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/how_print_i... Even the modern take (Bumptop for Mac) seems needlessly cluttered and cumbersome to manage. Then again, I prefer tiled interfaces, so I lean toward the extreme on the other end of the spectrum.