Ted Patrick - Demos & MAX @ Adobe Systems
Note: This is the personal blog of Ted Patrick. The opinions and statements voiced here are my own.
Design++
DIGG IT!
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Published
Friday, June 19, 2009
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10:32 AM
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As a followup to "Design an Application like a movie" I wanted to highlight the fact that design and interaction design has become the new standard. Today it is very hard to ship an app or propose an app without a fluid, cinematic user interface. Sure there are still areas where POF (Plain Old Forms) will do but more and more design++ is the new requirement.If you look at all the leading applications and platforms, cinematic and well designed is built in. Iphone has it, Pre has it, Twitter clients have it, Safari has it, Kindle has it, OSX has it, even Windows 7 has it. This level of quality is really the new baseline for releasing an application for end use. Users really require a simple easy to use visually pleasing system for daily use.
At Adobe we have been working to shift apps from being developed to being designed. If you take a careful look at Catalyst it flips the % of design and development work within an app. Where development was 80% of an app, it is now 20% and Design/Interaction was 20% is now 80%. I have long thought as a platform Flash needed to better leverage the designers on Adobe's platform (10M+) and combined with an ecosystem of developers above 1M+ we would reach critical mass. In essence, Catalyst is game changing as it allows design to become the defining factor.
Now folks can dispute the value of how things are designed or the usability of product ABC but design and interaction are here to stay as the new requirement of anything software.
Cheers,
Ted :)
10 Responses to “Design++”
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So, should designer's salaries go up and developer's salaries go down as a result of this trend? Probably their combined productivity will go up because of catalyst, but I'm guessing the developer will take the second place to the designer now.
Well teams that can execute on both design and development will as always be rewarded. The thing is this isn't classic design, it is motion graphics, usability, and aesthetics rolled into one.
Today folks that are pure interaction/cinematic desgin in Flash make a killing. This will hold true but developers working within the new design++ order will benefit as well.
Win Win.
Ted :)
Having a slick looking app is always desirable and important. But lets not lose the idea of functionality in this. Twitter is a bit flashy, but it also "mad buggy". Just today I got an error page on a standard click of a link.
The end user still likes a product that works over one that looks nice. So lets not lose perspective.
I must agree with Marty. However high our expectations are getting for look and feel, function will always trump form.
There are other implications to consider as well, particularly in motion graphics/interactive media.
Slick effects and layouts increase development time, and it's always important to be nimble.
While the tool set is changing and the path from concept to market with it, I think it will be some time before these new applications/practices are adopted.
Design, Engineer second is something I've been pushing internally at Microsoft.
I think Ted is right in saying design++ is a new area ready to be really nurtured more. Until now, Form based solutions were simply a standard way of producing solutions to business related problems. Not a lot of UX thought went into them and hey, shipping on time and on budget means rewards.
Then comes along what I call the UX Age, where suddenly we're more focused on what something looks like vs what it does. This can be due to competitive pressures or it simply can be a unique way of overcoming usability constraints...your milage may vary.
Every brand around us does this now, where its essentially bad form to ship a new version of a product without adjusting the UX as well as bake features in.
We are judging a book by its cover more so than ever before, so heed Ted's advice here, ensure you all give correct amount of weighting towards design as well as engineering.
Designers should be hugged more, not ignored :)
-
Scott Barnes
Rich Platforms Product Manager
Microsoft.
When you started using the term "cinematic" I start to cringe only because these "fluid" transitions and such are totally distracting and superfluous UNLESS THEY ADD USABILITY--many do. For example, a wipe left and digging digger and a wipe right when going back up the hierarchy. May seem like fluff to some, but this kind of thing can make the app way more usable and understandable.
So, I'd say: yeah, people have for a long time realized that design matters. Having said this, I also find people all the time who are willing and interested in adding effects and polish that has nothing to do with the core functionality. So... I don't think I disagree with you--but with those who are willing to put frills above functionality.
I think it`s a bit early to shift the numbers like this. I mean come on Catalyst is nice but it`s not even a 1.0 product and until it hits at least 3.0 I think the 20% 80% is only true if you are paid for prototypes.
This trend you speak of Ted, I agree with fully. However, I know plenty of traditional Web Designers who are clueless about this new interaction design paradigm. There is definitely a "gray area" how to get current web designers up to speed. Do you have any recommendations how traditional web designers can get on a fast track to interaction design? (I sense some developers who are really more like devsigners might be on the same fast track too.)
to quote polygeek, "i imagine how i would like it to be in a perfect world and find a way to make that happen."
i'm excited for catalyst because it will help me convey the vision and idea without the time or cost investment.
Flash Catalyst is no where a good example of something that will be helpful to designers. Seems like a complete fail, in terms of the UX & Workflow.