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Comment by bornon5 | Hacker News Reader

I'm not convinced that rounded corners are anything more than a trend right now.

Aesthetically, many beautiful objects have sharp corners - tables, windows, and computer screens, not to mention the universal reading tablet, a.k.a. the piece of paper. Our eyes haven't had a problem staying focused inside these rectangles.

The big draw for rounded corners is comfort. But we've been using sharp rectangular folders, binders, magazines, etc. for decades without complaint.

Apple used the rounded corner to great effect, and for now it seems like the only possible design choice. But some point, someone is going to produce an elegant matboard-thin computer tablet with "sharp" corners that don't cut your fingers, and suddenly the rounded corner will seem like a childish relic of the naughts.

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Obligatory folklore.org [1]... design is often how to incorporate what we already know and see in the digital world... regarding your comment about folders, if you do a google image search for "folder" you'll find most of them are rounded. In drawer at home, most of the folders have rounded edges where possible (ie, not at the hinge of the folder due to increased tear potential).

' Steve suddenly got more intense. "Rectangles with rounded corners are everywhere! Just look around this room!". And sure enough, there were lots of them, like the whiteboard and some of the desks and tables. Then he pointed out the window. "And look outside, there's even more, practically everywhere you look!". He even persuaded Bill to take a quick walk around the block with him, pointing out every rectangle with rounded corners that he could find. '

[1] http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Round_Rects_Are_E...

Actually, yes. The research in neuroaesthetics has shown some interesting results that point out humans' natural preference towards straight, rather than oblique lines: http://www.wfu.edu/psychology/faculty/pubs/schirillo/Article...

I do not know where the author got his "curved lines pull people in" effect.

I also feel like simple vignettes on the corners would make tablets seem much more sophisticated and intricate.

Another related URL: http://www.artlebedev.com/mandership/147/ here Lebedev talks about the difference between simplicity and primitivism. This probably most closely hints at what I think is wrong with Apple's design.

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