Louie Mantia, on Twitter:
iOS 7 launched and there was both triumph and criticism. We lost what seemed like mere visual eye candy and people focused on *that*. I don’t even want to argue for “skeuomorphism.” That’s not the valuable part that we lost. We lost the significance of visual design.
— Louie Mantia, Jr. (@Mantia) January 31, 2020
If flat design killed UI personality, then design systems are nuclear annihilation. The only place designers are allowed to add character are in they-all-look-the-same illustrations on error screens. God forbid if you have a fanciful animation. The interface itself used to be expressive.
People say we’re tackling more complex problems and the need to collaborate is way more important, and that’s why we’ve shifted to systems-thinking design. I believe design systems can usher in a new era of creative and beautiful interfaces at scale. I just think the value of visual design has been reduced to ash — an afterthought for most teams. Making jewel-like UIs is just not prioritized and it’s a shame.
I love that we’re focused on solving real problems. But did we need to suck the soul from software? I know we can solve hard problems and look good doing it.
People say we’re tackling more complex problems and the need to collaborate is way more important, and that’s why we’ve shifted to systems-thinking design. I believe design systems can usher in a new era of creative and beautiful interfaces at scale. I just think the value of visual design has been reduced to ash — an afterthought for most teams. Making jewel-like UIs is just not prioritized and it’s a shame.
I love that we’re focused on solving real problems. But did we need to suck the soul from software? I know we can solve hard problems and look good doing it.