Interface Design and UX Thread - How our App Looks

[Gare]

I don't think rich, photorealistic renderings will ever go completely out of style, mindseye, but as far as UIs go, "skeuomorphic" is a trend, not a movement, and it's being supplanted by "the flat look", specifically Microsoft Windows 8 Metro look. Even Apple is "getting it", and moving away from literal paintings of iconic representations.

Skeomorphic at top



Flat at bottom

This sort of treatment historically has been for international signs, like No Smoking, and Men's Room, not to editorialize too much!



Which doesn't mean that We have to go with the flow. On the contrary: Microsoft has encountered so much blowback over version 8 that they issuing version 8.1 later this year and 8 adopters get a free upgrade.

I think we just really need to decide what art we are able to create is the easiest read in the UI: simpler is sometimes better, but not always. And a visually rich UI is value-added as far as customer perception goes. Look at Painter's old UI compared to PaintShop Pro, to compare two Corel products.

My Best,

Gary

[Gare]

This is just a different "treatment" of Barbara's design concept: a blueprint motif.



And if you really, really, really, really HATE blue, I guess on dark grey it could look like a chalkboard.

My Best,

Gary

[angelize]

I like the Gear interface. I took Barbara's file and gave it a grungy metal look. All the pieces and parts and a couple of really nice textures as well came from the scrapbook section of the DPX designs gallery. I modified them a bit to fit Barbara's basic idea.

[Barbara B]

I like what you did.

I especially like the current tab displaying in a metal nameplate or gauge window, the addition of the screw heads.

I didn't texture the gear, especially the center panel because I thought it would make the text hard to read, but your treatment separates beautifully.

[Rik]

Are we settled on the Wheel, or is it worth considering a different look?

Obviously, the colours can be changed to suit.

[PeteS]

Personally, I really like Rik's design. A good, clean, clear UI. And more importantly is scalable if new options are needed in the future, the UI design doesn't need re-vamping.

Barbara's design bought back memories of Webstyle 4 for me with the layout of the sections (except the editing options in the middle). Nice design and some good designs it's inspired Gary (I like the white on blue design) and Francis

As this project is in a fledging state I think that getting the basic functionality of the program figured out is the first step, and even just the functionality implemented for the first release. That will give us an indication of the specific requirements of the UI (eg how much space is needed for each section, how many sections etc). Also, the UI is largely superficial - it's a skin that's applied. Much like changing your CSS on a website (OK, may be it's a bit more work, but you get the idea).

[Gare]

If all this does is serve as a reinforcement that the tg community is behind the project and behind Grace, I feel it was an effort worth expending.

Yes, Pete is dead-on: skinning is trivial compared to the coding, but it is nice to see both cooperative and independent ideas being brought up.

Food for thought!

-g

[gracehjs]

I really like this look and I think it is quite doable.

Are we settled on the Wheel, or is it worth considering a different look?

Obviously, the colours can be changed to suit.

[angelize]

I've played around with Rik's basic design with different colours. I came up with a set of harmonious colours using red, a soft warm grey and some darker greys. I also used black and white text in some areas.