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Do you guys think that in terms of a design, we're in a refresh loop?

Like, I don't think the goal of a design is to be user friendly and optimal for all human eyes. There's a million ways sideways to achieve that.

I think the real thing most designers go for is to just make something look "new". And every few years that needs to be redone. Forever. In an infinite loop.

Fuck actual usability, thought-out layouts, contrast rules, what-the-fuck ever. 99% of the goal is to make it look "modern"

Comments
  • 3
    I mean it's pretty much the same rut that cars, phones and the like have fallen into. This year sharp corners. Next year we can round them out a bit so it looks new and exciting.
  • 3
    The simplest design is no design. Terminal based workflows are the most intuitive, for me at least. Sadly, we’ve overcomplicated design to the point of no return
  • 2
    Exactly this. This is why you see stupid design decisions like removing actual knobs and buttons and replacing them with digital interfaces which are 10 times slower in most car dashboards. There's zero point other than aping other designs that "look modern" or whatever.
  • 0
    I think design needs to accomplish two things:

    1. Contribute to a great user experience. That means elements behave the way you expect them to, and both beginners and experts can easily find everything they need.

    2. Translate "brand vibe", WITHOUT COMPROMISING 1.
  • 0
    So, the same as every other industry?

    e.g. Fasion, phones, cars, houses, furniture, ...
  • 0
    @YADU Fashion is a monumentally retarded industry, so that's an easy one.

    Phones have been boasting increasingly better designs. Slimmer, lighter, more screen space for the same dimensions, etc.

    Cars are designed more and more to reduce wind resistance and impact destruction.

    Houses are designed to be more energy efficient and fire safe.

    There are a lot of vanity industries. I'm just surprised that user interfaces are one of them.
  • 0
    @AlgoRythm right, I'm not saying there are no improvements, just that lots of industries kind of, cycle like that.

    How are you gonna let people know you're keeping up with the trends otherwise?
  • 0
    @YADU Nothing wrong with keeping up with the trends, the point is that seems to be the primary goal of UI design, even though UI has a functional role in how a user interacts with a program.
  • 0
    @AlgoRythm eh, I'd say we're actually converging on a "standard" set of features for UI.

    Think about using an old program, from before CTRL-C was invented, vs now, where every (modern) program uses the same keys to copy.

    The only thing really changed every few years is the appearance, rather than anything important...
  • 0
    @hashedram this. The ford focus 2016 Vs 2008 is my own experience: the 2008 version has multiple nobs, one for navigation map zoom and and menu functionality and one for speaker volume. It has some buttons to navigate around. The 2016 version has a volume knob and a touchscreen, which is super slow, hard to use and counter intuitive. Shit for something to use in a car.
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