
Why Gorgeous User Interface Design is Important - MyColorscreen Blog - peachananr
http://blog.mycolorscreen.com/post/4576460465/why-gorgeous-user-interface-design-is-important
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ThomPete
Yes of course gorgeous user interface design matters. But pitching two
calculators up against each other is missing the point.

Beauty matters when everything else is equal. It's very easy to make something
a simple as as calculator look good if you got the chops, because the UI have
been solved for you.

But interface design is not just about how it looks. It's about how it works.
And I will take something that works over something that looks good any day.

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valisystem
To resonate on your comment : when thinking about UI design, I personally
never dissociate visual and behavior.

The UI behavior has to comply with the visual metaphor it manipulates. This is
quite hard to do properly for people (like me) that does not master one of the
discipline : UI behavior is controlled by code, and with a slight lack of
care, it slips easily in a spaghetti nightmare if you want something finely
tuned, and UI visuals, well, also needs great skills.

A team that manages to set up a cooperation for those two competence will
bring you great UIs.

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ThomPete
Exactly. But there is one area that I wish more developers would explore and
that is the ability to code proper transitions. To actually sit down and do
some research into motion graphics.

Right now that area is primarily explored by flash developers and there are
many really cool geeky things you can do to optimize transitions. If you
really wanna shine as a developer with these kind of interfaces, learn how to
optimize your transitions.

Why is this important?

Because it's what happens between the clicks that going to create the feel of
the product.

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mariusmg
I hate the term "User Experience". Especially considering that most people
think that user experience is about making the crap as shiny as possible.

A good user experience has nothing to do with looks....make the crap fast
(especially on mobile) and as easy as possible to use. That's "the secret".

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ugh
Aren't you overcompensating? Looks are quite obviously not everything but are
you really suggesting that looks don't matter at all?

(I'm unable to use apps with imperfect looks. An ugly icon is enough. It just
drives me crazy. I have to delete them. I'm strange that way and most people
are probably not like me but still … I can't really believe that looks don't
matter at all.)

Edit to add a little tangent: That's not to say that custom "beautiful"
interfaces are always desirable or easy to pull off. If you don't have it in
you the end product will be a horrible mess. (Especially for all those poor
picky people like me.) Sticking to the stock UI is probably the best idea in
the vast majority of cases. Going custom requires serious talent and an
unquestioning attention to detail. At least if you want to please me.

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ryanklee
This article is entirely lacking analysis and relies purely on subjective
assumptions to back up its judgments. A little digging around and pulling out
a few "whys" would have been appropriate here. As it is, it might as well be
blog-spam.

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crikli
I must be an engineer. I liked the three losers better.

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eagleal
At least compare equal products. On the list Awesome Note VS Ultra Notes I,
are the only comparable ones (even though iPhone app vs Android App).

"Calcbot VS Calculator", is like comparing HP-48 vs Mac inlcuded Calculator.
"Bjango VS Musical Pro", the former is a disk scratching app, while the latter
features a metronome and tempo.

Edit: UI and UX reflect the functionality, features, plans, mission, identity
(the one people identify and wear shirts about), etc. If the application and
its functionality itself is not comparable, why should the UI be?

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combiclickwise
what's wrong with SDK buttons? or how does it matter on a calculator? Google
uses "SDK" buttons and everything. Hacker news hardly makes an effort in the
UI direction. yet its the best I know. If all things being equal, UI wins? if
all things are equal between your product and someone else's then I think you
have a serious problem on your hands.

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nchlswu
You've just given examples where a great UX has made up for any apparent UI-
deficiencies. SDK buttons are "good enough," in that they're UI elements that
won't negatively impact UX on their own (implementation obviously matters
here). "Good enough" is all you need when you have a superior UX.

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joezydeco
Someone actually took the Metronome example code from Apple and made it an
app? _Really?_

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pitdesi
Somewhat nitpicky, but I think sometimes UX matters more than UI, and there
are elements of both in these examples.

From Wikipedia: User Interface (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_interface>)
\- The aggregate of means by which users interact with the system (e.g., all
the means of input and output)

User Experience (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_experience>) - The
architecture and interaction models that impact a user's perception of a
device or system ("all aspects of the user’s interaction with the product").

UI is the "how" of creating an interface (implementing shiny controls, that
sort of thing) and UX is the "why" (creating a good experience for the user).

What's interesting is that there are many counter-examples... for example
Craigslist. Terrible UI/UX, yet it is wildly more popular than it's closest
competitors. For a while Plentyoffish was the most popular dating site, same
thing there.

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peachananr
Totally agree! Another example is Reddit and Dig. But I believe the trend will
eventually give weight to UI to be as equal importance as UX as web styling
technologies evolve (CSS3). I am not saying that UI will overthrown UX, but I
think It will goes together.

Thanks for commenting by the way. :)

