Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Behind the scenes of Circle app design

discovercircle.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 38 posts

Re: Behind the scenes of Circle app design

#21

Post by whatusername »

danso wrote: post #13
idan wrote: post #4

It's a shame such a great presentation is ruined by the usage of "Hot Chicks". It wouldn't have cost them anything to just say "models" instead of "models and hot chicks?" And just like that, my interest in the app is gone.

Yeah, I was put off by "nice girls". first of all, they're "women". Second, yeah....just "models" will do fine. "Models" are attractive to any gender..."nice girls" caters to a male audience. Which I guess is the right assumption, and will continue to be, sadly.

You could also go for something like "sexy boys and hot girls". Models on it's own works perfectly fine though.

Re: Behind the scenes of Circle app design

#22

Post by jskopek »

sparknlaunch12 wrote: post #9

It looked pretty good until the decision making process of colour choice-blue or orange. I don't understand the rationale. So what if orange is a warm colour. I was expecting a better argument on colour choice. And why just two choices? Is there a more scientific approach to colour choice (ie colour wheel) or is it simply designer or customer choice?

I think the tone of the article was to be more light hearted, rather than objective and factual. The stock photo laden video really doubles down on that gambit.

I think a laid back attitude is novel, and has a lot of power. It's made me associate Circle as a fun startup, which might have been the whole point of the article - a recruiting and promotional tool - in the first place.

Re: Behind the scenes of Circle app design

#23

Post by danso »

callil wrote: post #20

The video is kind of odd, Seems like an excuse to get some crazy camera shots of the musicians. Doesn't really help sell the app at all, I would much rather have watched a shorter, more to the point promo video. Other than that, the app looks nice!

Have to agree...the video is, frankly, terrible in terms of product promotion. It actually made me lose interest in the app because it seemed to indicate there was not much to be excited about in the app, since so little functionality was shown.

Cut it down, focus on why we should care about yet another social app.

Re: Behind the scenes of Circle app design

#24

Post by doubleconfess »

callil wrote: post #20

The video is kind of odd, Seems like an excuse to get some crazy camera shots of the musicians. Doesn't really help sell the app at all, I would much rather have watched a shorter, more to the point promo video. Other than that, the app looks nice!

I couldn't even tell if the video was meant to be serious, and for a second made me think the whole app was a ruse. Frankly, I'm still bewildered by what I saw.

Re: Behind the scenes of Circle app design

#25

Post by iodave »

danso wrote: post #23
callil wrote: post #20

The video is kind of odd, Seems like an excuse to get some crazy camera shots of the musicians. Doesn't really help sell the app at all, I would much rather have watched a shorter, more to the point promo video. Other than that, the app looks nice!

Have to agree...the video is, frankly, terrible in terms of product promotion. It actually made me lose interest in the app because it seemed to indicate there was not much to be excited about in the app, since so little functionality was shown. Cut it down, focus on why we should care about yet another social app.

I actually really liked the video! I think it really helped sell the story and drama of the app. I know that a lot of videos focus on the features of a particular app, but I think this video did a pretty good job of selling the benefits of the app - all while being consistent with the different branding elements.

A video doesn't have to be a features list. It has to tell a story.

(And it doesn't hurt that I really do like The Piano Guys!)

Re: Behind the scenes of Circle app design

#26

Post by dmix »

As a designer, I found the content well presented but kind of fluffy.

Design is about understanding the users and the experience you're trying to create. How long it took, colors chosen and testing w/ real content are mainly just technical details.

I would have loved to hear about the process of breaking down how Circle would improve the lives of your users and the design thinking around that.

Or even why the "simplistic circle" concept made the most sense for the problem you're solving, outside of the aesthetic/branding appeal.

It might have made a good sales pitch for your product as well.

Re: Behind the scenes of Circle app design

#27

Post by typeoneerror »

danso wrote: post #13
idan wrote: post #4

It's a shame such a great presentation is ruined by the usage of "Hot Chicks". It wouldn't have cost them anything to just say "models" instead of "models and hot chicks?" And just like that, my interest in the app is gone.

Yeah, I was put off by "nice girls". first of all, they're "women". Second, yeah....just "models" will do fine. "Models" are attractive to any gender..."nice girls" caters to a male audience. Which I guess is the right assumption, and will continue to be, sadly.

Referencing "models" is weird to me to start. Now I'm thinking of a designer who has a bunch of "hot chicks" directories on his computer. The intention should be that "high quality photography" will make most designs look a lot better, not the "high quality" of the looks of the human subject, right? When you make it about "models", you've made it content-specific, and this is compounded by making it gender-specific with "hot/nice girls". How about:

Any design mock-ups look fantastic with high quality stock art, but can it pass the Trial by Co-Founder™? Replace your professionally photographed imagery with a random photo of your co-founder and see if the design still "works".

Re: Behind the scenes of Circle app design

#28

Post by jeffclark »

idan wrote: post #18
musHo_sk wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man, sorry, I give up.

Don't give up, don't be sorry—just fix it! Bonus: you learned something about writing copy for startups today. Every failure is an opportunity for a successful outcome.

It's OK to show some personality. It's even OK to offend some people sometimes.

Correction: he learned something about writing copy for idan today.

Re: Behind the scenes of Circle app design

#29

Post by fbaum »

idan wrote: post #11
musHo_sk wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fixed.

No, it isn't. "Nice girls"? Models are attractive people. The terms works for both sexes. Ask yourself why there has to be any reference at all to the fact that the pictures are of females . Your placeholder image leaves little doubt about that fact. I'm trying to get an idea across to you: it isn't okay to use women as sex objects in public conversation like your site. It isn't okay to single women out, even as "nic…

"Nice girls" sticks out like a sore thumb, as if it had been thrown in to replace "hot chicks" so no one would be offended.

Oh, look! That's exactly what happened. I agree: inappropriate.

And before we get into any sort of argument of misogyny and what is or is not acceptable, I'd point out that there's good advice here: Anything taking away from your point is doing you a disservice. Stick to discussing good design choices, or the message will get lost in the din.

Post reply on HN