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Why do we round corners?

uxdesign.cc

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Re: Why do we round corners?

#101

Post by nyxf »

Okay, I dont know how to feel about this but. This seems to be a literally rehashing of an article from 2011. It even begins with the same damn text intro. Attaching links for reference. this article: ``` Rounded corners — they’re everywhere. From software user interfaces to hardware product design, there is something intrinsically satisfying about the look and feel of a rounded corner. In fact, designers have been using them so much that they became an industry standard rather than a design trend. But why are rounded corners so popular? ```

The article from 2011 ``` Designers use rounded corners so much today that they’re more of an industry standard than a design trend. Not only are they found on software user interfaces, but hardware product designs as well. So what is it about rounded corners that make them so popular? Indeed they look appealing, but there’s more to it than that. ```

What do you think about this, HN?

Link for ref: https://uxmovement.com/thinking/why-rounded-corners-are-easi...

Re: Why do we round corners?

#102

Post by systoll »

donatj wrote: post #41
keithnz wrote: post #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

I thought the same exact thing. I feel like if anything, it obscures the implied relationship between B and C

I’d’ve gone the other way — the rounding makes clear that there is no direct link between b & c, where the orthogonal lines are suggestive of one.

The orthogonal straight line diagrams create a phantom b-c connection whenever you connect a-b and a-c.

Rounded diagrams can still have that b-c connection if it’s intended.

Re: Why do we round corners?

#104

Post by travisgriggs »

mauvehaus wrote: post #62
travisgriggs wrote: post #46

A few months ago, I built matching houseframe beds for my 2 year old grandtwins ( https://www.woodshopdiaries.com/diy-kids-house-bed/ ). The best piece of advice I got from my dad before I started on this (for me) ambitious project was in question form: "Are you going round over all the edges? A 1/2 inch round leaves a bruise on a little one. An unfinished edge leaves a cut." He's been right. They're psycho 2 year ol…

I hate to be that guy, but this is all but guaranteed to have problems with wood movement in the long term. Briefly: boards get wider and narrower as they absorb and release moisture from the air, respectively. The length remains constant. Anywhere you have a wide board (or glued up panel) affixed cross grain to another piece, you need to account for wood movement. The problematic joint in this case is where the side…

Awesome response, thanks (glad you’re willing to be that guy). I’ll give ‘em a shake (and likely a tighten) next time. I didn’t have high hopes for the longevity of them; the parents are in school still. “Run these suckers into the ground and give ‘em away when you move” I told them. It was my first pocket screw build(s), so it was fun just for the learn of it.

Re: Why do we round corners?

#105

Post by [deleted] »

nyxf wrote: post #101

Okay, I dont know how to feel about this but. This seems to be a literally rehashing of an article from 2011. It even begins with the same damn text intro. Attaching links for reference. this article: ``` Rounded corners — they’re everywhere. From software user interfaces to hardware product design, there is something intrinsically satisfying about the look and feel of a rounded corner. In fact, designers have been u…

[deleted]

Re: Why do we round corners?

#106

Post by HWR_14 »

0x7E3 wrote: 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.

They had several side by side comparisons on straight vs rounded. Which one(s) didn't you agree with?

Re: Why do we round corners?

#107

Post by chias »

nyxf wrote: post #101

Okay, I dont know how to feel about this but. This seems to be a literally rehashing of an article from 2011. It even begins with the same damn text intro. Attaching links for reference. this article: ``` Rounded corners — they’re everywhere. From software user interfaces to hardware product design, there is something intrinsically satisfying about the look and feel of a rounded corner. In fact, designers have been u…

I think it looks like plagiarism.

You can't just write "The following examples are taken from this great [other article]" and then proceed to copy the entire other article, swapping synonyms like you're in 9th grade and forgot about your history report until the night before.

Re: Why do we round corners?

#108

Post by StillBored »

stevenicr wrote: post #97
0x7E3 wrote: 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 dunno about rounded corners for beauty - but there are cases when I find them function over form. Recent HN discussion about the wyze cam app - it was pointed out to me that a feature I had never been able to find (and only put in a less than half-assed attempts to find tbh) - was via a HUGE green button on X screen. Seeing as though I have used this app many many times over the past year plus, I went looking for i…

Well this was fundamentally one of the issues with ms office when they went to the ribbon. see: https://www.jegsworks.com/lessons/numbers-2/intro/ribbon-off...

No one could figure out how to print because it turns out that round thing in the upper left was basically the old file menu, but since it didn't look like anything else on the screen people were really confused, so much so, that as you see from the link above they just moved it to the tabbar/ribbon in the next version of office.

So, its doubtful it has anything to do with how round something is, and more to do with the drop shadowing and whether people expect a button in that location, and whether it looks like one.

Re: Why do we round corners?

#109

Post by dredmorbius »

memco wrote: post #98
dredmorbius wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slashdot led the fray with its border-radius top-green-bar design.

That was in the bad old days before CSS border-radius existed and you had to use transparent GIFs and lots of other fun tricks.

I'm trying to remember what the method was, though I seem to recall border-radius being a property which could be applied to tables. And of course, Slashdot was a table-defined layout site.

Nobody does that any more.

(With a very few hackish exceptions, some of which may be news to you... ;-)

Checking IAWBM: the original site design used a Gif for the design element:

https://web.archive.org/web/19980113191222/https://slashdot....

https://web.archive.org/web/19980418031312im_/http://slashdo...

Re: Why do we round corners?

#110

Post by bamboozled »

Because round corners look more natural to humans, the natural word produces almost nothing that is a perfect right angle (which we can easily see with the naked eye), so soft corners a more familiar to us and less artificial.
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