via Joshua Johnson on Design Shack
I think this holds the key to pulling off realistic interfaces the right way. Problems arise when designers begin with trendy metaphors and the result is a UI that is both inefficient and ineffective. Usability is sacrificed in the name of pretty pictures. However, when you start with a simple and solid foundation, structured with usability in mind, you can gradually add in style
I’ve heard a lot of ranting against realism in interfaces. iBooks is the poster child for, “That’s ugly! This is why we should only use simple colors and lines!”
Joshua offers a more thorough critique of realism and makes a great case for using realism when it works. My favorite quote:
✦ PermalinkThe problem arises when attacking trends merely becomes a trend itself, without proper analysis of what is and isn’t best from a user’s perspective. Designers should be critiqued and trends should be properly identified, but we have to make sure we don’t build hard and fast rules based in preference rather than logic.
My books...