2crazy
macrumors regular
Neither do I. 😕 A 20 pages thread about nothing. 😱 There are some tips over at OSXdaily how to change Calendar, and other apps to brushed metal. After those easy modifications everything looks like iTunes. Awesome 🙄
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Apple's Designers Clashing Over 'Tacky' Software Skeuomorphisms
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Neither do I. 😕 A 20 pages thread about nothing. 😱 There are some tips over at OSXdaily how to change Calendar, and other apps to brushed metal. After those easy modifications everything looks like iTunes. Awesome 🙄
mentaluproar
macrumors 68000
If you want an example of form over function, look at the ipad music app. AWFUL! I completely agree. I'd reather a bland interface that is simple and clean than this cluttered ****.
I like the idea, at least partially. It's a heck of a lot better than the cold gray/blue wash that OS X presents. I really dislike designs that make the whole system look the same. Each app should look unique and separate from the underlying system UI. The whole "lets wear matching UI's" phase lost it's appeal around the same time that the second Matrix movie was released.
Now I think that making an app look like a real life physical object that is only loosely related to the basic theme or concept of the app, well thats cheesy, at least when it's taken as far as apple takes it. In the app I am making for iOS, it's a midi controller app, I take elements from real music related hardware. I've styled the ui's buttons after the kind you would find on an old electric organ with many different pastel colours set on a textured black plastic with white screen printed labels. Many of the buttons light up when activated and reflect off the black plastic backing. The borders are a thin raised metal strip. It all looks quite nice, but it also looks nothing like an electric organ, that would be silly, it's a midi controller.
Now I think that making an app look like a real life physical object that is only loosely related to the basic theme or concept of the app, well thats cheesy, at least when it's taken as far as apple takes it. In the app I am making for iOS, it's a midi controller app, I take elements from real music related hardware. I've styled the ui's buttons after the kind you would find on an old electric organ with many different pastel colours set on a textured black plastic with white screen printed labels. Many of the buttons light up when activated and reflect off the black plastic backing. The borders are a thin raised metal strip. It all looks quite nice, but it also looks nothing like an electric organ, that would be silly, it's a midi controller.
Well then, since nobody under 30 has even seen a leather bound contact book and certainly wouldn't know how to use one, maybe the app should look like a computer? Oh, wait, it is a computer. That's what people use for contacts.
And a real calendar? Who uses a paper calendar?
And, truth be told, I don't mind the skeufommoropoixsms, but your argument doesn't hold water.
chrmjenkins
macrumors 603
We're not talking about OSX direction. We're talking about one offending app according to his/her original argument.
motorazr
macrumors 6502
I don't think that's a very good metaphor ... contractors want something to get done for you, that's about it. Ive is not a laborer. He's a designer too, but his focus is on the DESIGN of the hardware. So it should be natural that he'd have an idea how the design of the software should go too.
The issue is exactly what the article states -- you've got two different schools of thought fighting over details. Eventually you'll get somewhere better than choosing just one or the other.. but in the mean time, some weird people (like me) really dislike the feeling of the game center because it really does look kinda "tacky" or as if someone just took their first lesson in photoshop regarding how to make a fake game table...
just two cents from an Ive supporter 🙄
2crazy
macrumors regular
rlhamil
macrumors 6502
only if it's useful
A minimal visual hint might help people to quickly remember what something is and have new users figure out what it's meant to do. But anything beyond that seems to me to be misleading, unless it's a fairly comprehensive _functional_ simulation of a physical object.
And when an overdone cosmetic on the front of something without all the rest of the function as a visual simulation goes to the point of interfering with the utility of the UI, it's IMO gone way too far.
There's also the inconsistency of style: the basic GUI toolkit seems to be moving more toward being muted and unobtrusive (the grayish scrollbars instead of the electric blue ones, for example). But the useless eye candy seems to be going in the exact opposite direction.
If one has a sound-effects panel that looks AND WORKS just like the hardware, that's not tacky (although I doubt it's optimally efficient, except maybe on an iPad, where the whole surface is a control). But something that's about as useful as the props in a grade-B sci-fi movie is rather annoying.
A minimal visual hint might help people to quickly remember what something is and have new users figure out what it's meant to do. But anything beyond that seems to me to be misleading, unless it's a fairly comprehensive _functional_ simulation of a physical object.
And when an overdone cosmetic on the front of something without all the rest of the function as a visual simulation goes to the point of interfering with the utility of the UI, it's IMO gone way too far.
There's also the inconsistency of style: the basic GUI toolkit seems to be moving more toward being muted and unobtrusive (the grayish scrollbars instead of the electric blue ones, for example). But the useless eye candy seems to be going in the exact opposite direction.
If one has a sound-effects panel that looks AND WORKS just like the hardware, that's not tacky (although I doubt it's optimally efficient, except maybe on an iPad, where the whole surface is a control). But something that's about as useful as the props in a grade-B sci-fi movie is rather annoying.
Why should it look like knobs or buttons at all? Perhaps I've never used a midi controller or an old organ. Do your personal sensibilities about the app and the buttons lighting up off the black plastic, etc. possibly skew your design sensibilities in EXACTLY the same way the Apple designers are doing? Yup.
Think about the 14 year old just learning this stuff and picking up your app. Does the design and function mean anything to him? Would it be better in some other way that was universal? Could you possibly design your app to function MORE like the OS interface being used to lessen the learning curve and add to the comprehension of similar functions wherever possible?
That is good design. Not just, "I think the knobs look nice because the remind me of the knobs on an old Hammond organ." It's not about pesonal aesthetics. It's about right and wrong.
At least that's what I think. 🙂
I like the new wood, leather, etc. GRAY EVERYTHING IS SO BORING AND UGLY. these people need to be fired.
Also the shredder is amazing! I have downloaded a ton of test pass's just to shred them. I have shown people how awesome it is. It needs to stay.
Also the shredder is amazing! I have downloaded a ton of test pass's just to shred them. I have shown people how awesome it is. It needs to stay.
Look like designed by Microsoft's designer team....
I though it was designed by Microsoft's designer team....
I though it was designed by Microsoft's designer team....
I freaking hate it. It is tacky yes but it's lazy and regressive design. Encouraging to hear some inside Apple want it gone.
charlituna
macrumors G3
If it works, and works well, I don't mind the little touches
I suspect for the majority if folks that is true.
And until I hear Sir J say it himself I'm not buying all this sources stuff
jrcsh6
macrumors 6502
I WAS the one
macrumors 6502a
Hate me all u want but I love how Apple implement the eye candy on the gui. I love it. Start making apps that looks as Android without all that beauty and I will stop buying apps.
