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from the designer-egomania-vs-user-ergonomics dept.
In a not so recent (2015) study Flat Design vs Traditional Design: Comparative Experimental Study scientists measure the performance of current and past interface styles. They reference multiple past articles and studies (some freely avaliable like Ref 3 or Ref 11) so they are not walking new ground, just measuring some more.
Some interesting background:
The density of screen information [in flat design] is often extraordinarily low [10].
...
The main criticism was that flat design ignores the three-dimensional nature of the human brain, which is extremely sensitive to visual cues linking interfaces to the real world. The removal of affordances from interactive interface objects means that users regularly perceive interactive elements as non-interactive, and non-interactive elements as interactive.
Despite these limitations flat design is becoming more and more common, and criticism of experts in HCI [Human-Computer Interaction] and usability is generally ignored by the software industry and graphic designers.
They used different tests: finding a word in text, finding an icon among others and finding clickable objects in a webpage. The process included eye tracking and recording of mouse motions. Subjects were students below 30 years old and already using similar interfaces, so effects in older or disabled persons were not studied. Font tests showed similar times, but worse cognitive load (derived from eye motions) for flat style. Icon tests showed worse times and mental load for flat style, a more complex task pushing the brain out of semiautomatic mode. Webpage tests were also against flat style, with high miss and false alarms indicators.
The conclusions were clear:
Our experimental study supports the opinion expressed by many HCI and usability experts that flat design is a harmful tendency in area of user interfaces, and should be replaced by interfaces based on the design principles developed over decades of research and practice of HCI and usability engineering.
Now we have more proofs that "flat design is inferior to traditional design", we aren't just whiny users opposed to change that don't understand what is going on. Based in personal experiences, and those of older persons around me, my conclusion is that any "UI/UX expert" that keeps parroting the modern interfaces is just a fad-following graphic designer at best (I expect more from those too... but they keep on disappointing me), and in any case should not be allowed into the HCI field. There were other studies, and this one is around 4 years old, so maybe it's time to get back into saner styles. Not that I hope things will improve quickly, after realizing that — since this study — things have slid more and more into simpleton mode.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by VLM on Monday February 11 2019, @02:29PM (4 children)
Eh ... no. When my current home depot range croaks I'm buying my wife a Vulcan restaurant grade. Kinda like buying a speed queen commercial grade clothes washer, aesthetically speaking the UI for big box stores has little to do with UI for professionals.
As a bad SN automobile analogy its kinda like tools, in that J Random Consumer should be milked of $20 annually at Harbour Freight to buy a shitty screwdriver set made of undercooked pasta noodles that bend in use but have a pretty spray paint finish that lasts about five minutes of use, whereas the "real pros" buy German made Wiha (and be careful not to buy the licensed name Chinese trash...) that only last 3 or 4 generations.
As you'd expect you can buy a home depot stove that you gotta replace every three years for $500, or one that'll last a decade for $1000, or a Vulcan for $10K that'll last at least a century, but its not entirely the finances but also the annoyance and the experience of using quality tools rather than trying to duct tape and bailing wire crap into working.
As a large overall group, nobody pays more for cheap shit that doesn't work, than the American Consumer.
(Score: 1) by SomeGuyOnTheInterwebs on Monday February 11 2019, @10:36PM (3 children)
Seriously. I managed to snap the end off a Harbor Freight box end wrench while removing a stuck pedal from my GF's bike. I stood there looking at the broken bit on the ground with my mouth open, thinking; How do you fsck up a box end wrench, fer crissake?
-- Just SomeGuyOnTheInterwebs
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday February 12 2019, @02:00PM (2 children)
I unrolled a walmart twist drill once.
Some products are so bad that no matter how much you need to buy a "X" it turns out buying a substandard one is a waste of time.
I had some old craftsman chinese screwdrivers with mushed up philips heads ... for years until I chucked them, every time I used them it was a PITA.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 12 2019, @09:35PM
I've learned that the best use for such things is to cut off the handle, plug it into a power drill and use it as a drill bit.
Best use, mind.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 13 2019, @01:39AM
You know those small screwdriver sets, sold for a couple of bucks at$2 stores?
I've lost track of how many I have gone through.
Fix glasses? Sure.
Anything harder? Nup. Busted. Buy a new set.
Now I am thinking that if I had just purchased a decent set years ago. . I would still have it.
The Vimes theory of boot economics I suppose