Bad design SUCKS. Even more, when it's from the Big Guys...
So, I may have become a bit Insane.
Maybe, Steve Jobs' ghost haunts me.
Maybe his soul has entered my head.
Maybe I have just become obsessed by him.
Everything I see; specifically on any 'i' device - be it an iPad, or an iPhone, makes me go into the neutron of its design and figure out if it's exactly the way "I would like it"?
It really hurts my eyes, my sensibilities and my heart when the biggest brands in the world do a shabby job in the holy world of 'i' art.
It signals to me that these brands don't respect the 'i' universe. They don't 'get it'.
Don't the managers who put out this stuff use iApps themselves?
Well, even the biggest and the brightest sometimes need to be taught some good manners...
So, let me serve you some not so great stuff from some very very great brands!
Facebook - terrible notification design in mobile messages :-(
Check out the pokey, horrible 'spear' that appears in the notification tab:
It hurts, doesn't it??
These are the Games2win Art team's suggestions!!
Option 1 - A slightly milder, integrated 'poke'?
Option 2 - Why 'poke' at all?!
Option 3 - Blended, synced tab
Option 4- Pokey, pokey but not so hurty hurty..
And one last one!
Facebook, can you please get your act together and delight your presence on the 'i' platform a bit more?
2. Google's horrible, small, squashed 'Chrome' logo on iTunes :-(
Check out the wow Instagram app icon, the beautiful native Apple app icons and then the squashed, compressed, squeezed Chrome app - set in a black/grey background?
Google, why have such a beautiful logo 'coffined' in a black box?
We at Games2win couldn't hold back and decided to give the Chrome thumbnail a run for its money!!
Check out the options we created:
Google, you may not concur, but please peep beyond the Android mayhem. There is some beauty in the world...
3. The Economist - 'Tar' black balls as paginators on the iPad app
:-((((
I swear by The Economist. I live by The Economist. Probably I will die with a copy of The Economist by my side.
But when I see these dark, ugly, 'tar' like droplets on the iPad pages (intended to mark page numbers), I throw up :-(
My attention is focussed on these terrifically ugly 'tarlets' rather than the article I am reading :-(
The Economist - I have some options to present to you, your highness!
Option 1 - Balls all right, but softer, red ones?!
How about an Option 2 - dashes! use 'em!
Check out this option - dash with panache!
Hmmmm, a final one - grey, dull, balls.
The Economist - please give your design a re-look? Please?
Great design is not great art or great science. It's a lethal combination of both. And no one gets it. It's subjective, objective and very very personal.
Having said so, apps are what make the world go round, and if you are going to be in the business of delighting people, then you better start paying attention to what you put out there for people like me to tap on.
If it's bad, then that tap just might get missed or skipped.
***
Major, major thanks to:
- Purtata Lew - Art Head of Games2win
- Sumesh Pillai - Art lead at Games2win
- Amol Medarkar - Illustrator at Games2win!
Tip - Don't try hiring these folks. They love the torture I give them at Games2win
:-))
***
I will send this blog to some senior folks known to me at Facebook, Google and The Economist. Let's see if they have something to say!
****
Finally - what do YOU think? Comment and let us all know!!
*******
Important note (posted later)
This is a post written by Alok Kejriwal in his personal capacity and not as the CEO of games2win (g2w). In his capacity as CEO of games2win, Alok and the Company acknowledge that g2w is NOT at all the gold standard for Art, UI or UX!
In fact in may of the g2w Company blogs, Alok has personally cried out loud about the terrible art that the Company (g2w) has and its attempt to improve it!
This is a humble, harmless post written by someone obsessed by detail and design and who is personally trying to improve what he may see. This is NOT a chest thump to claim that 'we know it all'. In fact, we know nothing!!
*****
Feedback received so far:
Yipeee!
Check out some of the responses / reactions to this!
August 3, 2012 at 8:20pm
Hi Alok,
*****
Tags: Facebook, Google, The Economist, Thumbnail Art, apps, iPad thumbnails, iTunes, iTunes thumbnails
Views: 2286
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Ramnath Banerjee on -
Really good pointers, loved reading it! Let me put in my 2 cents...
In regards to the Facebook notifications, I believe the awesome FB Design team also need to relook at the formatting of the notification content delivered to the users.
Option 1: Since the notification already displays the friend(s) name(s) who have liked/commented on a photo (as in the snapshot), why can't it display the photo which has been liked/commented instead of displaying the DP? Doing so will make the notification more informative and will make everyone's life easy since you won't need to click on the 'photo' link time and again to check which photo are they liking/commenting. (DAMN, will that reduce visitor loyalty? Nops I guess.)
Option 2: If more than 1 friend likes/comments on a photo, display upto 4 DPs (instead of 1 as we see in the browser based notifications).
In regards to the Chrome icon, the suggested ones are nicer! However, I still get a feeling that the existing Chrome icon (with lots of white pace around it) has been intentionally designed to give it an uncharacteristic look and in the process help the users locate it easily. Isn't the dashboard looking too crowdy with all the big icons, notifications, etc.?
-
Permalink Reply by Ramnath Banerjee on
-
YESSS!!!
Facebook have implemented Option 1 (as above):
Option 1: Since the notification already displays the friend(s) name(s) who have liked/commented on a photo (as in the snapshot), why can't it display the photo which has been liked/commented instead of displaying the DP? Doing so will make the notification more informative and will make everyone's life easy since you won't need to click on the 'photo' link time and again to check which photo are they liking/commenting. (DAMN, will that reduce visitor loyalty? Nops I guess.)
Waiting to see Option 2 implemented as well!!!#WinWinWin
-
Permalink Reply by Alok 'Rodinhood' Kejriwal on -
WOW - what do u do? Would u consider a job with 2win???
alok@rodinhood.com
-
Permalink Reply by Ramnath Banerjee on
-
A BIG THANKS TO YOU FOR STARTING THE THREAD :-)
Will mail you shortly.
-
Permalink Reply by Alok 'Rodinhood' Kejriwal on
-
Yipeee!!
Check this response received!!!
Hi Alok,'I love getting feedback from our loyal customers, especially if they are armed with suggestions, which you clearly are. My team shares your view on the pagination balls. They were not always big balls of tar. Unfortunately the pagination balls began rendering differently after iOS 5.0 was released. Luckily, our next major update will include an update to the pagination graphics. It will either revert back to our old style or will possibly be a new design based on your suggestions, which I have passed along to our designers. Many thanks for you interest and your time. If you have any other ideas please feel free to contact me directly.'kindest regards,Neelay PatelVice PresidentCommercial Strategy & ProductEconomist Digital
-
Permalink Reply by Ramnath Banerjee on
-
Win!!! Delighted to see Facebook implementing my first suggestion! Please check my comments above...
-
Permalink Reply by Gurpreet Singh Tikku on -
Baat Karne se Baat Banti Hai!!
-
Permalink Reply by Nishant Agrawal on -
Well, yes, no harm suggesting others when your own work sucks big time and you acknowledge the same. But then, as you said, design is subjective. I find the original work by FB way better than the suggestions by g2w. For the Chrome logo, g2w's suggestions are more effective. Can't comment
Coming back home, g2w needs a design overhaul. Haven't played the games, but the site lags a decade behind in design. Therodinhoods.com - more so. It's an eyesore. I wish the design would catch up with its functional usefulness.
-
Permalink Reply by Alok 'Rodinhood' Kejriwal on
-
thanks for the suggestions. maybe you have some ideas?
-
Permalink Reply by Nishant Agrawal on
-
Eh, well, a few months ago I did message you over a dozen suggestions as a private message on therodinhoods.com.
Anyways, here they are:
1. The layout is a bit messy. Things are hard to find.
2. The 'Members' panel on the home page (left-hand side) serves little purpose.
3. The logo isn't particularly appealing. And the 'Thinkers. Doers' has an awkward layout.
4. The main navigation bar is very cluttered up. It can be trimmed:
a. 'Home' button isn't required. The logo serves the same purpose.
b. 'My Page' isn’t needed. Clicking on one’s name on the top-most bar serves the same function - and people are more used to that. Also, the hover style for one's name needs to be changed.
c. 'Members': redundant.
d. 'Wall of Fame' serves little purpose. And anyways I was expecting something different from 'Wall of Fame'.
e. 'Invite': I would put it somewhere else; same with 'About'.
and so on ...5. When I received your message, I didn't get an email notification. Is that default?
6. There's a lot of stuff being downloaded from Facebook CDN. Social connect is good, but too much doesn't look 'sophisticated'; it reeks of desperation. And this stuff consumes a hell lot of bandwidth. Your homepage is 1.1 MB in size!
7. The black background for headings and sub-headings doesn't stand out.
8. I don't understand why you added the feature to customize profile pages. It's out of sync with the 'soul' of rest of the site, although I feel that many people would use it. The stark design changes I see when looking around at profiles doesn't make me very comfy.
9. Why not use ajax to load photos when browsing through an album. Right now, to see each photo, I have to wait for the page to reload, and then scroll down. Frustrating.
10. I don't understand what purpose the 'Birthdays' panel on the homepage serves.What is dislike most is the amateurish use of css on the whole site. The site is almost like a vehement protest against Web 2.0 design.
You can spend some time to think over this, or you can choose to ignore all these suggestions as silly rants coming from a person with no experience or formal training in coding / designing.
-
Permalink Reply by Alok 'Rodinhood' Kejriwal on
-
I use Ning.com . This is what comes with the platform. The site is to serve entrepreneurs with the ability of one man me to manage with a couple of clicks for anything like sending newsletters to deleting spammers etc. Sorry to disappoint you.
-
Permalink Reply by Rajarshi Chatterjee on -
Not sure about the facebook recommendations. The whole objective of this design is to keep it separate and hence "pokey". I am not sure which version of the app you took screenshots from but you missed a button on the right of "Messages" where you can click and instantly compose a message - refer to my screenshots. I feel Facebook tries to separate messages from the rest of facebook and they made an app for it. Also you can drag the messages to the bottom to get an update for your inbox. This behavior is much more intuitive for a common user because this box is separated. If it seemed to be so blended in people wont do that.
Regarding the chrome icons - I feel the current one is much more sharp and clean - in line with google's design philosophy. We don't need an icon popping out and shadows inside an icon.
- Attachments:
-
-
photo2.PNG, 372 KB -
photo.PNG, 352 KB
-
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- Next ›
The RodinStar Post of the Week!
Stay Updated via FB!!
Please like us!!
Follow us on Twitter!!!
Top Content
9 Ideas to use the site!
1. Registration is a click away - via Facebook etc
2. View ongoing discussions and fire up one yourself
3. Have a broader point of view? post a quick blog
4. Have a question? Just ASK! here
5. Want to activate some inquiries? List yourself
6. Have some stuff to show? Post Photos
7. Want to get noticed? Get yourself interviewed
8. Have a presentation that you like? Share it - Step by Step instructions
9. Lazy? Just hang out, Chat, add Friends...
Still messed up? Read the FAQ's
What does 'Rodinhood' mean?
Rodinhood is inspired from Rodin - who sculpted 'The Thinker' and Robin Hood who 'got things done'. Hence Thinking+Doing = Rodinhood.
The best place for enterprising folks to hang out, share,make like-minded friends, get feedback and soak in a pool of vast experience.
© 2013 Created by Alok 'Rodinhood' Kejriwal.
