"You will like it! You will get used to it! I know what's best!" The designers will scream to their users.
This may be, just the beginning.
It's not just the "+" missing from the new tab button or the logo issue, it's a LOT of things. Gmail's new "blank sheet of paper" look. The annoying notifications of Google+ that follow you around. I just logged into analytics yesterday and saw the new redesign and I just... my jaw literally dropped. Who the Hell did this?! Is this is a joke? A bad dream? What did we do? Who at Google did we piss off to deserve this? More importantly what's going on in the world of design? Everywhere I look I see designs that look like the crap I used to turn out.
For a moment I even ventured to think that maybe that radioactive water from Japan finally hit the west coast in full force.
Google's new redesign combined with Kotaku, Gawker, and TechCrunch's new redesign, Ubuntu's Unity and Gnome's, and the new Yahoo mail is making 2011 + 2012 the beginning of an era of atrocious UI. Even Microsoft is joining in, by removing the start button. Maybe the designer shortage last year caused companies to hire up a lot of beginner designers.
More likely this is all because Steve Jobs passed away and now every designer in town is trying to take his place. The king of UX has died, the throne is up for grabs, and everyone's eyeing it. Desperately trying to mimic Steve's "forcefully creative" attitude and ignoring all logic and design laws, these new designers are hell bent on overly simplifying and minimizing every interface until there's nothing left. Desperate for fame and glory the designers will infiltrate every company they can find that's hiring. "You will like it! You will get used to it! I know what's best!" The designers will scream to their users.
This may be, just the beginning.
It's not just the "+" missing from the new tab button or the logo issue, it's a LOT of things. Gmail's new "blank sheet of paper" look. The annoying notifications of Google+ that follow you around. I just logged into analytics yesterday and saw the new redesign and I just... my jaw literally dropped. Who the Hell did this?! Is this is a joke? A bad dream? What did we do? Who at Google did we piss off to deserve this? More importantly what's going on in the world of design? Everywhere I look I see designs that look like the crap I used to turn out.
For a moment I even ventured to think that maybe that radioactive water from Japan finally hit the west coast in full force.
Google's new redesign combined with Kotaku, Gawker, and TechCrunch's new redesign, Ubuntu's Unity and Gnome's, and the new Yahoo mail is making 2011 + 2012 the beginning of an era of atrocious UI. Even Microsoft is joining in, by removing the start button. Maybe the designer shortage last year caused companies to hire up a lot of beginner designers.
More likely this is all because Steve Jobs passed away and now every designer in town is trying to take his place. The king of UX has died, the throne is up for grabs, and everyone's eyeing it. Desperately trying to mimic Steve's "forcefully creative" attitude and ignoring all logic and design laws, these new designers are hell bent on overly simplifying and minimizing every interface until there's nothing left. Desperate for fame and glory the designers will infiltrate every company they can find that's hiring. "You will like it! You will get used to it! I know what's best!" The designers will scream to their users.
I bet you it will get worse.