What's the effect of flattening on a mobile platform

Asked about the style features of the 2014 mobile UI, presumably most people would say--flattened. Yes, since the iOS 7 style has become flattened, most handset makers around the world are starting to lay out flat UI, whether it's custom ROM MIUI, FlyMe, or the latest Android 5.0, which has flattened out as a benchmark for design, flattening it out.

Perhaps a friend will ask, the Android camp after the iOS big change style began to promote flat design, or learn the Apple 10,000 years do not waver? Of course not. Personally, the flat represents the future, is the next era of design language. In the quasi-object style has almost reached the peak of today, manufacturers want to get a breakthrough, only from the design language based on the changes. In fact, in addition to the flat in the design style of advocating minimalism to bring fresh feeling, in the function compared to the materialization also has great advantages, specific performance in the following points:

　Mitigation of information load

Since the smartphone becomes the essential equipment after the daily life, it can be said that both the beginning of the dream and the first end of the nightmare, after all, the mobile phone has become a mobile life to receive messages in the terminal. Nowadays, modern people are exposed to a huge amount of information, which is full of useless information, and it often takes a lot of effort to find out useful information, which is more intense in the small size of mobile devices. Imagine full screen colorful and its vivid icons with the information on the logo, will give a great sense of oppression. Fortunately, the use of flat design, reduce the UI interface elements can alleviate this load sense.

　Second, focus on the information itself

Text from the original pictographic to today's simplified flat, represents the development of design characteristics, that is, from the appearance of features, to focus on the information itself. The same development, fully applicable to the mobile UI. In the initial rise of the smart machine, a lot of new and interesting interaction will often let us feel happy, the materialization of the reality into the design, greatly reducing the cost of learning. However, interesting interactions tend to occupy our horizons and disrupt our access to the information we need. Just like the time design in the UI, the fitting style brings a variety of dial interfaces that are as close to real life as possible. However, when we use time, we just want to get the time, even we can not know the number of seconds. In this way, the concept of time can be clearly and directly represented by a circle with a representative dial and a thin line that represents the hour and the minute hand, allowing the user to focus on time instead of being attracted to the various colorful and complex dials. Flat design brings a "simple" concept, directly to the things you want, efficient and fast.

　　Third, the construction of responsive design

Response design, that is, according to the different size of the interface automatic adaptation design, in view of the variety of mobile equipment size, so the current mobile applications and web design preferred. To know that the flat design language is mainly the application of lines, the ductility of the lines to ensure its support for response design. You know, the materialized icons are not malleable. Imagine a "real" object icon in the proportion of the larger, distortion effect is great, bring the bad experience of words. Moreover, the flat style due to less elements, the speed of loading on the Web page will be much faster than the design of the Web page to be materialized. Don't look at this in just a few seconds, after a long period of time to bring users the feeling can be a difference.

　Iv. Reduction of learning costs

The biggest benefit of the materialization is to reduce the cost of learning for the user, which is why Mr. Jobs pushed for the materialization. After all, flat icons with fewer elements are hard enough to form a metaphor that greatly increases the cost of learning. For many beginners, flattening is easy for them to feel at a loss and difficult to get started with. For now, however, this is no longer a problem. After several years of development, mobile Internet audiences have been accepted including point-by-step, long-press interaction, compared to the past in thinking and learning ability has made great progress, the learning costs have been greatly reduced. It can be said that the final barrier of flat design promotion has disappeared.

Flattening and materialization, it is difficult to say who is good who bad. Two styles, two attitudes, like the opening of the operating system and the closure of the dispute, there is no best martial arts, only better designers. Although the flat design now has the advantage in the function, also will gradually become the mainstream, but the future situation cannot anticipate. Whether it is to be materialized or flattened, in competition with each other, learn from each other, will develop better.