

Has Google Finally Found Its Mobile Design Chops? - acremades
http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/16/has-google-finally-found-its-mobile-design-chops/

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potatolicious
Yes, and even as an iOS user I have to say it's very gratifying to see Google
finding a unified and consistent design language. And executing on it - as
others pointed out, this theme isn't new, but it wasn't until recently that
we've seen this executed consistently across the board.

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.

~~~
taligent
>Google's current design out-Metros Microsoft at their own game.

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.

~~~
potatolicious
I'm referring specifically to MS's claim that Metro is "authentically digital"
- and that the simplicity (contrary to Apple's skeumorphic bent on everything)
is a usability improvement in and of itself. The stated design goal is to
develop a coherent design that separated itself from simple metaphors to real-
life objects.

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.

~~~
taligent
Have you ever actually used an iPhone before ? Because Apple doesn't have a
skeumorphic bent on everything just a few apps e.g. Calendar, Podcasts. The
rest of the OS itself both on iOS and OSX is fairly minimal and standard fare.
No different to Android and its god awful widgets.

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.

~~~
potatolicious
> _"Have you ever actually used an iPhone before ?"_

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.

~~~
clicks
Why are we operating under the assumption that skeumorphic design is
inherently bad?

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.

~~~
arcosdev
This is an important point. Skeumorphic is really only bad when it acts as a
barrier to using an application.

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panacea
I'd say the answer is yes.

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.

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DigitalSea
It was eventually bound to happen. Google have essentially taken the
simplistic approach to their applications instead of favouring Apple's love
for skeuomorphism combined with their own pieces of design flare. Less is more
in the world of true design, I think Google are gearing themselves up for a
design fight of sorts with Apple here and I'd say Google is already marginally
ahead. For a company associated with innovative design, I feel as though Apple
have truly dropped the ball the last couple of years and it's starting to show
as others including Microsoft catch up quite rapidly.

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sxcurry
I agree - I find the clean crisp look of the new iOS GMail App to be very
pleasing. On the small iPhone screen, it improves readability and
functionality. Ditto for the new Maps App. Compared to where Google iOS apps
were a year or two ago, they have really moved ahead. Contrast this to the
abominable Apple Podcasts App! I'm a big Apple fan, but some of the latest
software releases are beginning to really make me wonder what's going on in
the heads of the Apple developers.

~~~
rimantas
One of the latest releases was iTunes 11, and I'd say pretty good things are
going on in the heads of Apple devs.

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lucian1900
There's an entire mobile OS made by them, full of nice apps.

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hcarvalhoalves
The iOS Google Maps is very well designed, full of gestures and meaningful
metaphors, you learn how to operate it in no time and most panes make sense.

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.

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thingummywut
Google got Matias Duarte from WebOS at the end of Gingerbread so he had
minimal effect on that / honeycomb. Android is a huge, slow beast so it took a
while to improve.

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andrewroycarter
I actually don't really like where Google has been going with their iOS apps.
They don't look bad, but they don't look / feel like iOS apps. Microsoft and
Google both like to try and bring the look and feel of their mobile OS's to
their iOS apps, and I wish they would just make iOS apps that look like iOS
apps.

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nwh
I'm not a fan either. I couldn't care less about the visual design, its that
every interaction feels clunky and badly thought out.

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MatthewPhillips
I was disappointed with ICS, I was expected an overhaul but what we got was
polishing of the existing metaphors. Basically they chose 1 way to design
things and stuck with it, whereas in the pre-ICS days the designs were all
over the place.

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.

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drivebyacct2
Huh? Holo has been around for a while now (1 year, 3 months). Yes, people in
the iOS/Blackberry/Symbian world: Android is not the same as it was during the
1.x/2.x series.

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galadriel
The way Google apps behave now is way different than they were when ICS came
out initially, especially things like swiping to show menu on the side. While
Holo has been there for about a year, the details were never filled in by
Google with a flagship first party app. Holo provided the polish, the
usability in Google apps come from the way they attach functionality to
gesture.

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.

