
Flat UI Elements Attract Less Attention and Cause Uncertainty (2017) - malwarebytess
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/flat-ui-less-attention-cause-uncertainty/
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coding_lobster
The example image included in the synopsis seems a bit strange to me. It's not
like they are comparing apples to apples - what they've done is essentially
made the control elements blend as much into the page as possible. I don't
believe that UI elements have to be of the ghost variant in order to be
considered flat. They've taken away the 3D effects but they've also inverted
the color scheme. As a result the very noticeable purple button became a white
button. This seems to me as an unfair comparison - just removing the 3D
effects would still make the then purple button fall under "flat design", no?

EDIT: It seems like in most other examples they didn't do this:
[https://www.nngroup.com/articles/heatmap-visualizations-
sign...](https://www.nngroup.com/articles/heatmap-visualizations-signifiers/).

On the other hand however you can argue that just changing certain control
elements and not the overall design as well will have an impact. It's possible
that the control elements would have been more visible on a website where the
rest of the aesthetic complements them.

~~~
forgotmypw17
The screenshots are reduced in size and barely readable. I found it took me a
long time to even figure out the difference between them.

