Has Google Finally Found Its Mobile Design Chops?
techcrunch.com
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I would go as far as to say that Google's current design out-Metros Microsoft at their own game. Which is to say, they have found a design that is "authentically digital", eschews skeumorphism, is simplistic and minimalistic, without going way, way off the deep end like MS did.
That makes no sense. Metro was a bold attempt at rethinking the mobile UI. And it's inarguable that it is unlike every UI released to date and has a number of unique concepts. Some work. Some don't. But there is absolutely nothing bold, unique, noble or impressive by what Google has achieved. It is a bland derivative in comparison.
e.g. no "radio dials" to change stations, no watch-like clock faces, no textured buttons that look like physical buttons, no "unfolding" address books, etc. A UI that would represent information in its own way without bowing to constant references to real-life.
Having owned a Surface for a month now, and using Win8 on a desktop for about the same time, I have to say Google wins this one. Their UI design defies skeumorphism and over-complicated interactions without falling into the same holes MS has found themselves in with Metro - in particular the WinPhone flavor of Metro, which has particularly deep usability problems that IMO stem from MS's stubborn refusal to adopt even the most cursory amount of UI chrome.
And I don't dispute that Microsoft still has issues around certain UI uses cases but that is what happens when attempt something from scratch. I at least give Microsoft for trying to push the industry forward. And in many areas e.g. the hubs concept I believe they are ahead of the curve. It is a 1.0 release after all.
I have been an iPhone user since the iPhone 1, when I went through hell and back just to get one imported from the US. I've been writing iPhone apps since the day the SDK came out and now do it full-time, and have 4 apps currently in the store. I would like to think my opinion is not that of an uninformed outsider. I have either owned, or used, literally every iPhone and iPad model ever shipped.
I didn't realize were having a credentialing debate, but there it is.
> "Because Apple doesn't have a skeumorphic bent on everything just a few apps e.g. Calendar, Podcasts."
Skeumorphism is not the same as "blatantly and completely copying a physical object" - though this does exist in iOS (Compass and Voice Notes for example are even more egregious than Calendar and Podcasts).
Take the music app on iPad for example - it's a dead ringer for Dieter Rams' SK4 record player, down to the wood trim along the sides and the off-white textured buttons. There is, of course, the recent settled lawsuit re: Swiss railroad clock on iPad too.
But less obvious skeumorphism is everywhere in the OS. The very basic and common "card flip" UI is skeumorphic and not seen on any other platform. Both the Weather and Stocks apps use this, as well as previous incarnations of the iPhone music app (where it simulated flipping over an album cover to read the track list). Apple actually highly encourages this design (well, maybe this will change now that Forstall is gone) for simple utility apps as a means to separating single-screen functionality from configuration. It's right there in the dev guidelines.
Ditto goes for the "page curl" UI that's used in Maps, and its even more obvious cousin the "page turn" used in iBooks. Apple even goes as far as to render the map in an almost-invisible way when you have it curled up - as if the map is partially see-through like it would be in real life.
Now that I think of it, the only major components of the core out of box experience that aren't noticeably skeumorphic are Mail, Safari, and Phone.
> "I at least give Microsoft for trying to push the industry forward."
Sure, and I do too. I for one hope Metro works out, because a single-platform world would be awfully boring (and dangerous).
Still, I'm going to give this one to Google. They didn't reinvent anything, but they sure as hell polished it to mirror-like shine. They accomplished MS's stated goals without a ground-up reinvention, and the end result is something that is both easy to learn for users (including skeumorphically addicted iOS users) and ditches old UI metaphors.
The greatest thing that iPhone ever did was to make an incredibly complicated device that was wanted by everyone: young and old, educated or not. It makes sense that skeumorphic design was one of the critical things that helped in breeding a sense of familiarity and comfort for the non-technically-inclined users in navigating their way around the phone, whether it is by having simple motion transitions reminiscent of real-life page-flipping or sliding up motions, or the textured buttons or replicating design of real-world devices like compasses, mics, calculators, etc.
I'm not saying Apple doesn't have a minimalistic design sense elsewhere (e.g. OSX), but you have to admit that skeumorphism is definitely dominant on the iPhone.
I think his original point is that Metro was supposed to follow a minimalistic design approach completely opposite to the skeumorphism we've seen dominating iOS, and that Google is taking that a notch higher.
It's interesting, because I'd imagine if Johhny Ive wanted to pivot away from skeumorphism to a far simpler and cleaner style, the new Google 'style' is exactly where he'd want to go. They seem to be occupying the middle ground between Apple and Microsoft's disparate design languages.
I find all current Google interfaces lack character though, on the wrong side of minimalist. They took what worked on the search page and applied on everything else, but I don't think it works. Most interfaces suffer from poor iconography and minimal colors (everything's white or grey, basically). GMail is a good example: I gave up using the webmail altogether after the last redesign. Using most products feels like you're interacting with a robot in a laboratory.
This minimalist trend worries me because it's a projection of a sci-fi future where technology should be precise, interactions should be ethereal. That's a mirage. I would rather see more honest designs, that acknowledge human imprecisions and emotions, instead of lobotomizing products.
However they didn't really rethink any major UI aspect. The multitasking got the biggest overhaul, but that was just a superficial change. The UI is still a carousel of apps/widgets (most widgets being useless). Nothing like Windows Phone's pinning. Nothing like the N9's swipe. Still the same ole, just with a fresh coat of paint.
So I guess it is news-worthy for other people unfamiliar with how Google iterated their apps on Android to know that finally Google has nailed down pretty much all what it wanted to achieve.