I've been using computers since ZX Spectrum days. I've seen all kinds of design-activity and design-philosophies. What's missing from today's design-thinking for me, is context-appropriate direction.
Some things should be flat, or more precisely - subdued. An Instagram photo page shouldn't be all buttons and underlined links, sure - the photo is the important part so that the rest should be subdued. But the settings page should be all skeumorphic buttons and links and dials and switches, that's what it's for.
It looks to me like there is an unhealthy tribalism invading design-thinking. As long as I have the correct ideology, no matter the context - my design is "good". Get on the flat-design bandwagon. Forget decades of UI research. Think in screenshots, doesn't matter if it's all jank and moves things in and out from under the user's fingers. Put everything on one screen, don't contextualize.
"I'm being paid to deliver", not to think through. To ship, not to test.
My designs require a gaming PC to run a document-like page, and don't scale down. "I'm designing for the future", it will all work out. Eventually. For some.
My tools and my education are a sliver of what a designer used to think about, so I can't really do anything about it anyway, that's just the way it comes out. You don't honestly expect me to learn about the systems and devices my users are running this on, do you? That would make me a coder, that is to say not a designer.
How did that happen?
How did being knowledgeable and well-rounded at your industry become rare? Business reasons? How did using a computer become constantly surprizing and never straightforward? Business reasons? Why do I have this and that humongous app just for one or two things it does, and now there's 200+ apps in there? Always waiting for something to load all that, just so I can do this one thing. Business reasons?
It's not business reasons. OSS is no better.
Maybe it's that the approach that got us to where we are, the moving fast and breaking things, keeping your nose down in your own corner isn't what will get us out of here?
I mean, my computer usage went down over the last 12 years, like 5x. I just don't want to. I'm more or less done with all of it.
It all feels like it got bolted on, and then bolted on, and then ducktaped around.
Terminals, mobile UI, desktop apps, the Web, games, appliances, work tools, control systems; ALL OF IT.
Sure, there's loads of it, and it's cheap. But there is still no choice, not really. This jank or that, it doesn't do it for me. I've checked out, more or less.
I stopped looking at new laptops, and when my phone breaks I pull a couple of old ones from the drawer and make me a working something. I'm not giving them my money, why would I? They got nothing I want. Apple, Google, Lenovo and the rest of them equally.
The last MS product I enjoyed using was MASM. That's until I found out about NASM.
There is no dumb car I can buy. Everything is finicky touch and not user-serviceable. Many things are so flimsy you can't lean on them at all.
But then, one has to understand that if the whole world around you seems to have lost the plot, chances are it's you. So, is it me, what do you think?
Because I can't handle it, I'm legit checking out.
