Flattening is bad, can say is a wrong trend?

The following questions were asked about the flat issue:

I don't think there should be a mistake. And the flat should also be in the real scene or from the user's subconscious in the things that exist in the abstract, I have always felt that the early fitting in fact to our users to build a real and virtual environment in a very good platform, but also a process of transition and guidance, So now when the flat wind strikes, our adaptation will be natural, of course, there is no flat in the world, it may also be fitting that everyone has seen for a long time, so there will be a bit of visual fatigue, when you see the flat style appears suddenly feel very refreshing, because the interaction and the table is very clear, but this does not mean that the object will be eliminated, Because depending on the use of the scene, different equipment specifications, the user's audience groups, the objects and the flat actually play different roles, and in my opinion, I always feel that the style of the present can not say only these two ~ because there must be a new design trend waiting for everyone to find, but do not forget the fundamental design, Not blindly to follow the bandwagon. In fact, each icon or design is behind the designer's own ideas and intentions, but also the product personnel are hard to pay the fruits of labor.

I sorted it out from Shen Zhenyu @ know the answer to this question:

I am very supportive of the flattening trend and, to be exact, I think the current trend is abstraction, and flattening is just a typical form of abstraction.

1. The limitations of the proposed materialization

The so-called fitting, must be in the real world already has the object, moreover is people's daily life frequently uses the goods. Unfortunately, the things that people use in their lives are very limited, cameras, compasses, clocks, radios, recorders ... Each of us is familiar with and will use no more than 100 devices, and this is only for whenever. For 00 of people born, they have never seen a tape recorder since birth, dial telephone, radio, red and white game machine, BP machine, cellular phone, etc. these have been eliminated equipment, we have reason to believe that the future of our children, may not even mouse, compass, Walkman will not know, because these devices are replaced by a mobile phone , and even the phone will one day be replaced.

So, when we know more and less equipment, and mobile phone applications to achieve more and more innovative features, this contradiction arises. The application function is too innovative to find a real-life object.

Therefore, the style of the object will limit the development of innovative applications.

2. The limit of the fitting

IOS6 before the version, in fact, has pushed the object to a very high altitude, visual on each of the texture, shadow, texture, every detail has been fine carved, is perfect. It is very difficult to go beyond it at this time, especially if you want to go beyond the physical.

At the same time, we found that the market for a lot of camera applications are looking for a camera to do things, music applications are looking for a vintage record machine to the object, all the compass application on the open is a compass. Physical materialization brings high homogeneity.

Even more regrettable, because the compass, the record machine, the radio such product actually all is already eliminated the equipment, but these equipment has already stopped the innovation to stop the improvement, is dead. But the application is alive, to continue to improve development. If we go down this road of materialization, 10 20, 50 years from now, these applications will turn out to be the same. Don't you feel sad?

3. From the pseudo object to the abstract

In fact, I am very opposed to the reference from the object to the flat, I think the current trend is not flat, but abstract, flat is just an abstract visual form, the abstraction actually has more possibilities.

Looking back on history, we will find that from the object to the abstract is the inevitability of history, the evolution of words and the development of painting as an example:

Almost all the words were hieroglyphics at first, the way to depict things in the real world, but with the increasing complexity of human society, more and more abstract concepts emerged, people found that can not use the way to express, and then began to give up the object, using the form of sound to record the language. Even in Chinese characters, the largest proportion is the phonetic word, pure pictographic characters are also very few.

Similarly, painting until the invention of photography is the pursuit of realism, the ultimate realism. However, after the invention of photography, people found that the realistic painting has come to an end, no longer beyond, the only way is to find a way to paint in an abstract manner. So the contemporary art, more and more abstract, completely rid of the shackles of the real world.

Throughout the history of art, we can see that, at the beginning, people are trying to restore the real world, in the skills increasingly perfect at the same time, people began to realize the "reduction of reality" limitations, and began to break through the shackles of reality, towards abstraction.

Even now, there are still a large number of ordinary people who cannot understand abstract art (it is interesting to recommend that you take a look at the Museum of MoMA), but no artist has ever been willing to go back to the art age.

Analogy to the mobile phone's materialization, we have reason to believe that in the future for quite a long time, the visual style of materialization will still be respected by most ordinary users, but as a designer, should have this height to see the meaning of abstraction.

4. Conflict between quasi-objects and minimalism

It requires a high degree of simulation of the object and requires a lot of detail, so we need the texture, the level of need, the need for shadows, which ultimately need to be realized through visual elements. But in fact, the only thing users need to pay attention to is the information itself, these visual elements may be in the initial use of users, is a pleasing decoration, but over time, for users is a kind of interference information, users need is simpler and more directly to get the information he wants.

Furthermore, more portable devices, such as Google Glass,iwatch, need to simplify the interaction process further, and it is hard to imagine how to present a detail-rich object on iwatch's narrow screen if it continues to be materialized.

So, the materialization is in fact contrary to minimalism. Under the guidance of the principle of form following function, we have to give up the object and realize the function maximization.

5. Flattened!= iOS7

Many people are opposed to flattening because they dislike IOS7 's visual style. This actually made an obvious logical mistake, iOS7 just made his own attempt in the direction of flattening, just an earlier version.

are actually exploring flat, Google, WP8, and so on. Do not regard the immaturity of iOS7 as a flat error in this direction.

Now we are in the period, it is the system of the materialization of the increasingly perfect, abstract system just established period. It is obviously unfair to compare a newborn baby to a fully developed adult.

In conclusion, I believe that the wheel of history, the era of abstraction is coming, even though we have all the nostalgia for the time of the fitting, abstraction is still unavoidable. At the same time we are fortunate, we will experience the whole process of change, we are experienced in history. Oh no, we're making history!