We have now entered the murky realm between literal visual poetry (think Stéphane Mallarmé) and programmatic information organization (Matías Duarte). When you think about it, most of the design conventions and visual metaphors in computing within the last 25-30 years limited themselves to coping with the output of the computer: grainy, low resolution screens. Now that computing screens approach the printed word in resolution and clarity—300+ dpi/ppi, near-full sRGB colorspace—its entirely appropriate that UI design is moving to looking like a living printed page. All the slick tricks to make things seem 3D, to encase them in plastic-like buttons, or to attempt skeuomorphism—all of it goes against the HUNDREDS of years of experience in written design. A grid of flat-ish objects that can use unobtrusive design cues like color-coding and gradients really does represent the best way to efficiently present actionable information. 2.5D effects like drop shadow depth still might be useful to indicate modality—a program is a living page after all—but the users need to navigate a field of hierarchical information finally trumps the limitations of the computing device. As Adrian Kwong pointed out to me this morning, Windows 8 actually WASNT the first to this party; Palm WebOS was. Its no real surprise, then, to discover that Googles latest Android design team is lead by a PalmOS refugee (Matías Duarte).
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 22:03:55 +0000
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