Val Head is totally into design, type, code, coffee & the internet.

While chatting with some folks after a recent talk, one of the guys I was talking with brought this up:

You lost me when you brought up Apple’s menu example. It’s just a menu; it’s just a transition. Does it really matter how it moves? I think you’re being too picky.*

It’s a good question. Does it matter? The answer is a bit subjective! Just like how people can still use ugly things, anything that moves but doesn’t get in the way is still totally useable. But, when it comes to UI design, I like to think of animations and transitions as an opportunity to communicate. An opportunity to add to your message, support your concept, or even add a little bit of fun or surprise if that fits. An opportunity to add that little extra touch if you want to.

Of course, you don’t have to take every opportunity, and it’s not the only opportunity you have to communicate those details. But it’s one of them. And when it’s done well, it makes for some pretty darn good design.

*{Full Backstory}: He was referencing my comment that the product slider on Apple’s site seems off-brand with it’s super snappy bounce. I compared it to Androidify, which has similar snappiness in a more concept-fitting way. Not wrong, but it just seems a bit odd. (Also, I’m totally paraphrasing his comment, as you probably guessed.)

Shameless self promotion: If you’re interested in learning more about working with animations and transitions and happen to be on the west coast. I’m teaching an Interlink workshop in Vancouver all about it!

24 ways is one of my favourite web design traditions. Always full of thought provoking ideas and really interesting stuff. It is billed as “24 ways to impress your friends” after all. And it certainly does!

But, I can’t help but think that the one of the most important points of this last one, Composing the new canon, gets lost in length of the article:

“Let’s not be naïve, of course; designing web pages is even less like composing music than it’s like designing for print. In visual design, the eye will always be sovereign to the ear; following these principles will only get us so far. We cannot truly claim that a carefully composed web page layout will have the same qualities and effect as any musical patterns that inform it. “

It’s such a long article, but that right there is the most important point of the entire thing. Knowing the ratio of a major 10th isn’t going to make you a better designer any more than being able to span that major 10th on a keyboard will make you a better piano player.

As interesting as these comparisons and journeys into theory are, what we make is more important than whatever rules we used to create it.

It’s human nature to over-complicate things. It’s very hard for us to keep things simple, but sometimes simple is the answer we’re looking for. A complicated process doesn’t necessarily mean a better end result.

I completely agree with the idea that we need to start being more articulate about what we do as our industry matures. Let’s keep talking about why what we do is important and looking to other disciplines for ways we can improve ourselves. These are important things for us to do!

But let’s not forget that talking about it is only one way of coming up with new ideas. Sometimes it’s better to just make something instead of talking about it. Or, as Brendan Dawes so elegantly puts it: “Talk – Action = Shit”.