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Why do we round corners?

uxdesign.cc

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Re: Why do we round corners?

#2
> We can all appreciate the aesthetic beauty of rounded corners.

Can we? Much like that top 40 song that comes on the radio way too often, I have come to find all the rounded corners off-putting. They are usually a signal of form over function, and often used by information sparse sites.

Give me square corners like HackerNews, old Reddit, or Vanguard any day.

Re: Why do we round corners?

#4
post #2

> We can all appreciate the aesthetic beauty of rounded corners. Can we? Much like that top 40 song that comes on the radio way too often, I have come to find all the rounded corners off-putting. They are usually a signal of form over function, and often used by information sparse sites. Give me square corners like HackerNews, old Reddit, or Vanguard any day.

The full article goes into the advantages and disadvantages of rounded corners.

From the article:

+ Boxy shapes are commonly seen as reliable, uniform, traditional, and professional.

+ Round shapes are commonly seen as charismatic, endearing, harmless, and friendly.

Sounds like you and the authors would agree.

Re: Why do we round corners?

#5
post #2

> We can all appreciate the aesthetic beauty of rounded corners. Can we? Much like that top 40 song that comes on the radio way too often, I have come to find all the rounded corners off-putting. They are usually a signal of form over function, and often used by information sparse sites. Give me square corners like HackerNews, old Reddit, or Vanguard any day.

Hacker News has rounded corners on its buttons.

Re: Why do we round corners?

#6
Because the siege engines will round them off anyway if we make them sharp and our castle ever comes under attack. And our defending archers can better rain arrows down on attackers approaching from any direction from a rounded tower.

Re: Why do we round corners?

#7
post #2

> We can all appreciate the aesthetic beauty of rounded corners. Can we? Much like that top 40 song that comes on the radio way too often, I have come to find all the rounded corners off-putting. They are usually a signal of form over function, and often used by information sparse sites. Give me square corners like HackerNews, old Reddit, or Vanguard any day.

I like a little bit of rounding. Much like gaussian blur, the more subtle the effect, the more appealing it is (imo). Unfortunately, the design trend of over-the-top rounding has started to hit the mainstream and it scares me deeply. Microsoft has started baking-in rounded corners to their displays on Surface products (WHY?!), and MacOS now has more rounded corners than a Fischer-Price product.

It's a little ironic to me that we've literally resorted to "cutting corners" with our latest UX trends.

Re: Why do we round corners?

#8
I was with them up until the diagram where the straight lines seemed much better. Not that it distracts from the main argument. It might just be that I expect straight lines on diagrams like that and not curves

Re: Why do we round corners?

#9
post #2

> We can all appreciate the aesthetic beauty of rounded corners. Can we? Much like that top 40 song that comes on the radio way too often, I have come to find all the rounded corners off-putting. They are usually a signal of form over function, and often used by information sparse sites. Give me square corners like HackerNews, old Reddit, or Vanguard any day.

Hacker News has rounded corners on its buttons.

Yep, and they are in the least information dense part of the page!

Re: Why do we round corners?

#10
Rounded corners look more sturdy and robust.

Objects with sharp angles are easier to break. External corners are easily damaged. Metal corner guards for cabinets are often rounded, and that makes them not only safer for people but also rugged.

Internal corners concentrate stresses, making it easier to start a crack and break the object.

Sharp corners are easy to produce, requiring less tooling, and so look cheap.

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