Texture and Soul
Sunday, 25 December 2011
Justin Williams:
It was certainly extra work for their millions of designers and the engineering team to craft experiences that felt unique on both platforms, but the end result is something that delights both Android and iOS users alike. With these apps that offer a completely platform-agnostic user experience and color palette, the bean counters may win by keeping a project under budget, but the users ultimately are offered a much less enjoyable experience.
Phenomenal article about use of Texture in UI design. Needless to say, I completely agree. I’ve been mentally drafting an article about how some of my preference for iOS comes from the design conventions relating a certain soul that other platforms lack (which Windows Phone actively discourages with its cold modernism; and which Android doesn’t seem to even have an opinion about, further to it’s detriment).
Some say shoe-horning concepts from the real world into software is misguided (for example, the tabular layout calendar applications maintain from their paper counterparts or the faux-leather style that’s creeping into OS X and iOS), and there’s some truth to that. Though, there’s no denying that it’s a great way to engage your users. The value of the emotional attachment is underestimated.
(No, I don’t even stop thinking about this shit for Christmas.)
