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Fall of the Designer Part III: Conformist Responsive Design(elischiff.com)

8 years ago from Ivan Bozic, Founder @ arsfutura.com

  • Jim SilvermanJim Silverman, 8 years ago

    the problem i'm having with this entire series is that overly skeuomorphic was just as irrationally trendy as the current overly flat. styles change, tastes vary. no aesthetic (if well-executed) is better or worse than another.

    13 points
    • Spencer HoltawaySpencer Holtaway, 8 years ago

      Definitely irrationally trendy, but it did give designers room for more details, which gave more room for differentiation. That's the main point I got out of the post (probably because I'm so out of touch with what is trendy! :-) )

      2 points
    • Simon GustavssonSimon Gustavsson, 8 years ago

      The thing is that it had a function beyond just style. It (allegedly and IMO probably) increased understanding of a UI: what was tappable and what was not, what was a nav bar and what was not etc.

      That's not something that should be thrown out the window without a very good reason beyond 'I'm tired of this'.

      2 points
      • Jim SilvermanJim Silverman, 8 years ago

        if the visual design is affecting usability, there's something wrong with the execution. there's no aspect of "flat design" that necessitates removing visual affordances of hierarchy and interactivity. many designers take it too far.

        this works both ways as well. overdone skeuomorphic designs often look too interactable, as in the old twitter example here. the entire header looks like a raised button. it confuses the purpose of the header and adds visual noise.

        regardless of aesthetic visual style, you've got to get the fundamentals right or else it's shitty ui design. i wrote about this a couple years ago. http://jim-silverman.com/blog/skeuomorphic-vs-flat/

        1 point