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Comment by 54mf | Hacker News Reader

Design has always been about aesthetic preference. While you're absolutely right about the core concepts (typography, color, contrast, etc), I find it amusing that you say that buttons "should" have rounded corners, or that gradients "are fine". Both of those concepts have merit, but are centered around a specific design metaphor (creating virtual objects with real-world qualities; round, "safe" corners for touching) that is by no means required for good UI design.

I'd be happy if we could just all agree and acknowledge that design is fashion and is almost entirely open to personal preference, instead of cyclically praising then destroying our golden calves du jour.

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The word "affordance" was mentioned in this thread a lot and for a reason: it is not a thing of fashion, it is essential for good UI design. If you want to engage user in interaction you must make it pretty clear what can be interacted with.

Yes: the problem with all the minimalist approaches to anything (starting with architecture) is that "we, the people" are confronted with something with which we do not know what to do.

Is this a conference hall, a chapel or a dining room? Is this the main room, the entrance or just the aisle to the toilets?

Design, whatever designers may say, is just a means to convey a message: either it succeeds or it is bad design.

It cannot be like modern poetry or modern 'art', where either you know the code or you understand nothing. If this happens, it is not good design, it is a different thing (which may be valuable in itself but not 'design' in this context).

You can write a newspaper with telegrams. It certainly would be cheaper. It would also be unreadable.

Edit: sorry cannot help mentioning it. Minimalists are usually as 'dogmatic' as any baroque artist might be. But at least, when you see baroque art you appreciate the harmony instantly. Not so with minimalism.

Design in broad sense can be related with fashion. But when we talk about UI design we use the term more in engineering sense rather than the artistic one. We can use the term design not only as in Fashion Design, but also as in Circuit Design. When we say UI Design we actually mean both senses. Aesthetic preference can be a factor, but it's never the essence of the act.

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