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The Comeback of Fun in Visual Design

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Re: The Comeback of Fun in Visual Design

#151

Post by dahauns »

shaan7 wrote: post #53
paulcole wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What if we could give complete control of visuals to user? This would be a terrible idea. People complain (in the comments on this very page) that Apple’s professional designers do a terrible job. You think my uncle is going to do better?

> You think my uncle is going to do better? Yes he will, because he has to only care about what he needs, and he is the best judge of that.

>he is the best judge of that.

The jaded old fart SW dev in me tells you:

No, he most certainly isn't.

Re: The Comeback of Fun in Visual Design

#152

Post by jdhn »

dmitriid wrote: post #93
alxlaz wrote: post #10

I don't really care about "fun", but I just can't find the words to explain how happy I am that there's a chance we might put all this flat madness behind us. I'm looking forward to: * Not having this conversation with my mom (who, at 60+, is remarkably adept with computers but hey, we all run into trouble sometimes) over the phone anymore: Me: Okay mom, now press the "Edit" button Mom: Which one's the edit button? M…

I agree with all your points. However, Big Sur is going to be very, very, very bad accessibility-wise. The entire interface is washed out. There's little to no distinction between selected items. Translucency breaks readability of text. And so on and so forth. Some examples: - https://twitter.com/krzyzanowskim/status/1275469783488696323 - https://twitter.com/lunasorcery/status/1275237073625198592 - https://twitter.co…

There's no way that second screenshot is WCAG 2.0 contrast compliant.

Re: The Comeback of Fun in Visual Design

#153

Post by gridlockd »

alxlaz wrote: post #10

I don't really care about "fun", but I just can't find the words to explain how happy I am that there's a chance we might put all this flat madness behind us. I'm looking forward to: * Not having this conversation with my mom (who, at 60+, is remarkably adept with computers but hey, we all run into trouble sometimes) over the phone anymore: Me: Okay mom, now press the "Edit" button Mom: Which one's the edit button? M…

Anydesk for iOS is a thing, my days of explaining GUIs over the phone are over.

Re: The Comeback of Fun in Visual Design

#154

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

dehrmann wrote: post #149
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #13

Anyone remember Kai's Power Tools? Now that was an interesting UI. https://www.mprove.de/script/99/kai/2Software.html?utm_sourc...

I remember it, and Xenofex and Eyecandy, but I'm not sure what they were actually useful for beyond gimmicky effects.

I used Eye Candy all the time (it was not a Kai Krause project). Back then, all the UI was skeuomorphic, and Eye Candy did a great job on that.

Re: The Comeback of Fun in Visual Design

#157

Post by harrygeez »

Lammy wrote: post #106
harrygeez wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not saying material design is great, but it's a great step up from Holo UI and anything before that in Android. I just dislike that it became so ubiquitous now and it's a train wreck on desktop

Personally I went through the opposite process. I was a huge fan of Android up to and including KitKat, and I thought Holo was great. My enthusiasm for the entire platform disappeared as soon as Lollipop came out with the dreadful new Material UI. Even with themes I just hated using it on every level and eventually switched to an iPhone.

Material UI and iOS both look more similar than ever. I'm not sure if aesthetic would be the reason to go for an iPhone

Re: The Comeback of Fun in Visual Design

#158

Post by ksec »

jsf01 wrote: post #141
ksec wrote: post #138

"Pendulum swings" , "Changes". Are these really the right word to use? Apple has always had some from of Skeuomorphic in their design since its early days. It was what Steve wanted it to be. Apple felt that flatness were wrong right after iOS 7 was released. An every year since then they have been "walking back" those "changes". Everything Ive changed all reverted back to Steve Jobs' era. Scott Forstall wouldn't have…

What do you mean about the key travel on the keyboard? I’m not familiar with the term in this context.

The depth of Key press. The previous keys on Macbook are 1.5mm in depth, the distance it travel every time you press it, with roughly 60g of force. This has been sort of the golden standard in keyboard on Notebook ( and in many cases Desktop ) for more than a decade. Apple reduce that to 0.7mm in their infamous butterfly keyboard in the name of thinner devices. For some that might have been fine or even preferable. For many its typing experience is much worst.

Due to its reliability problems ( which may not have anything to do with the lower key depth ) Apple walked back on the design and uses a 1 mm Key travel "Magic Keyboard". And from my experience it is pretty much the same as the old Butterfly keyboard in terms of Typing experience.

Re: The Comeback of Fun in Visual Design

#159

Post by Animats »

This is too much like 1950s auto design. Tailfins for your phone!

In 1955, the auto industry caught up with the pent-up demand from WWII. Suddenly, making cars wasn't enough. Now they had to convince people to replace their old car even though it still ran. That's when auto styling became exuberant. All the automakers had tailfins. Big tailfins.

Peak tailfin was reached in the 1959 Cadillac Eldorado. Tailfins then shrank, until by 1965, they were completely gone.

Tailfins are what you do when you have no clue how to improve the product. By 1955, car engines had enough power, automatic transmissions and power brakes worked, suspensions were smooth, and air conditioning was available. Getting from point A to point B comfortably was pretty much solved. Solutions to the hard problems in fuel economy, safety, reliability, and handling were not yet available for production cars. So chrome and tailfins dominated.

Re: The Comeback of Fun in Visual Design

#160

Post by Animats »

dehrmann wrote: post #146
alxlaz wrote: post #10

I don't really care about "fun", but I just can't find the words to explain how happy I am that there's a chance we might put all this flat madness behind us. I'm looking forward to: * Not having this conversation with my mom (who, at 60+, is remarkably adept with computers but hey, we all run into trouble sometimes) over the phone anymore: Me: Okay mom, now press the "Edit" button Mom: Which one's the edit button? M…

> Buttons It's really hard explaining to my grandma what's tappable on her iPad when everything's not just flat, but buttons aren't even marked in a way that suggests you can interact with them.

That's probably the biggest design flaw with many UIs - no visual distinction between what will accept touches/clicks and what won't.
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