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Retro design is crippling innovation

wired.co.uk

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Re: Retro design is crippling innovation

#11

Post by keithpeter »

"Let paper work like paper and screens like screens."

I liked that quote. Having said that, I take the point that skeuomorphs are not exactly destroying people's minds.

Another quote I found extremely intresting was this one, from a professional designer's blog

"It shows the care and attention paid to the printing of a photographic image, but also shows how the analogue process of printing a photograph shares a lot with the the digital process of adjusting an image in Photoshop." [ my italics ]

See the quote in context at the link below

http://www.wemadethis.co.uk/blog/2012/01/shaped-by-war/

Basically, are we reaching the point where metaphors that originally made software more accessible (Photoshop like a wet darkroom) actually lose their meaning. My colleagues who teach photography often illustrate aspects of the photographic printing process using Photoshop (reverse metaphor).

Does anyone have any academic references on the anthropology of interfaces?

Re: Retro design is crippling innovation

#13

Post by natesm »

bradt wrote: post #12

Can't agree more that skeuomorphs are awful. Probably my fav example of this is "sticky notes" apps. So f'in useless! What are your favs?

iBooks. It shows a bunch of pages on each side, regardless of whether or not you're on the first page, actually in the middle, or on the last page.

I wish that there was an OS with the core of iOS and the appearance of WP7[1].

1. except Helvetica.

Re: Retro design is crippling innovation

#15

Post by jinushaun »

I don't understand his criticism of the calendar. I WANT to see past dates. It gives me a context to what day of the week it is in relation to dates before and after today. Nothing irks me more when a calendar does not show days from last month on this month's calendar.

Example: Wednesday is April 2... Was Monday March 30 or 31? It forces me to switch my entire calendar to get this info. I want to see days in March and May on my April calendar.

For me personally, the agenda view is hard to view because my brain works on a week/month scale, not day scale. In day view, I also like to see all my events in blocks throughout the day with gaps, instead of a linear list of events without gaps. It helps me visualise free time.

Re: Retro design is crippling innovation

#16

Post by kenrik »

sambeau wrote: post #2

I don't get it. He spends most of the article telling us that skeuomorphs are bad giving the example of calendar app that looks like a desk calendar and then finishes by praising an app with a screen that skeuomorphically flips up just like a wall-calendar.

I'm actually not a fan of the Flipboard interface. I use Pulse and LOVE it - Great example of functional design.

Re: Retro design is crippling innovation

#17

Post by beza1e1 »

jinushaun wrote: post #15

I don't understand his criticism of the calendar. I WANT to see past dates. It gives me a context to what day of the week it is in relation to dates before and after today. Nothing irks me more when a calendar does not show days from last month on this month's calendar. Example: Wednesday is April 2... Was Monday March 30 or 31? It forces me to switch my entire calendar to get this info. I want to see days in March a…

I like the Agenda view. It gives the current or next event at the top and all upcoming stuff below in chronological order.

Re: Retro design is crippling innovation

#18

Post by kenrik »

nextparadigms wrote: post #8

Isn't iOS filled with skeumorphism, too? I know Matias Duarte said he wanted to make Android 4.0's design completely digital and without any skeumorphism.

Yes it is, that is because Apple wanted the largest target audience possible by making it "easy to use" Try to give your Grandmother some new interface without skeumorphism and see how well it works out. They use it because it removes barriers for the less technologically inclined.

Re: Retro design is crippling innovation

#19

Post by checker »

jinushaun wrote: post #15

I don't understand his criticism of the calendar. I WANT to see past dates. It gives me a context to what day of the week it is in relation to dates before and after today. Nothing irks me more when a calendar does not show days from last month on this month's calendar. Example: Wednesday is April 2... Was Monday March 30 or 31? It forces me to switch my entire calendar to get this info. I want to see days in March a…

I learned this rhyme from my parents: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_days_hath_September

It works pretty well (I just remember the first two lines). I hope it saves you some time!

Re: Retro design is crippling innovation

#20

Post by pedrolll »

camtarn wrote: post #10

There's a nice tip in the comments for that article: "In Google Calendar, pick the "4 Weeks" option at the top, instead of "Month" and it functions exactly as you describe, with the current week at the top. -benjymous" I didn't have a 4 Weeks view - turns out there's a setting which controls what the button between Month and Agenda does, in Settings -> General -> Custom View. There's also a setting above that for whi…

I've set 4 weeks as default in Google Calendar, so reading this article was baffling at first. Curious that 4 weeks doesn't show up for everyone. It is infinitely more useful than the month view.
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