Don’t Make Yourself Think: A Sarcastic Rant on UI Design
Y’all: I literally never think about Liquid Glass and I really think that that's the whole point
Okay so I get that everyone on the internet is an expert designer who knows everything there is to know about design, but I seriously don’t understand how Liquid Glass really lives rent free in your heads like this. Do I think it’s the best design system out there? Not really. I actually have implementations of similar glass materials in some designs I made back in college that I like much better. With that being said: I’ve been a big fan of flat design and never really thought that needed to go away.
But seriously, people. Hating Liquid Glass isn’t a personality trait and it doesn’t give you any clout as a designer. You’re all thinking about it way too hard.
Sure, the name of the game with most design is that a user shouldn’t have to think about what design elements mean at all. And guess what: that’s still totally possible with Liquid Glass. In fact, the less you think about it, the better it is. The whole point here is not operating from the assumption that the person using the device has no idea what a user interface is. That’s an outdated paradigm, especially for a product that’s old enough to get drafted.
Smartphones aren’t the new thing anymore. GUIs aren’t the new thing anymore. People know how a phone works, and Liquid Glass is designed for exactly that: it partially relies on muscle memory.
If you sit there and zoom in on screenshots of different UI elements, sure you’ll probably find something. That’s been true of every iteration of the OS. But speaking from experience, the less you think about it, the more it just works. I’ve never had a moment where I was confused about what a button did or how to navigate the device and guess why: because none of that’s changed.
There’s a very popular UI design book called Don’t Make Me Think by a man named Steve Krug. This book is a staple in the UI design world and I don’t think you can get through a software engineering degree without reading it at least once. It’s about how UI shouldn’t make you think about what it does, but what I’m going to add here is: don’t make yourself think. You’re overthinking the design. The less you spend thinking about it and the more you just use your phone the better Liquid Glass feels.
I never wanted a redesign. I never really cared whether or not Apple moved away from its flat design. I’m the prime target to be mad about this and I’m not. Because I’m not overthinking it. When I run into an issue, I submit feedback, sure. But that’s a very rare occasion, especially with UI elements. Stop overthinking. It’ll make your life so much happier.
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