{"id":8378,"date":"2017-04-11T11:08:58","date_gmt":"2017-04-11T10:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marvel7077.wpengine.com\/?p=8378"},"modified":"2017-04-11T11:11:02","modified_gmt":"2017-04-11T10:11:02","slug":"complexion-reduction-probably-going-kill-app","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/complexion-reduction-probably-going-kill-app\/","title":{"rendered":"How Complexion Reduction is (Probably) Going to Kill Your\u00a0App"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, I was reading Michael Horton\u2019s article entitled \u201cComplexion Reduction: a new trend in Mobile Design<\/a>\u201d and it got me thinking. In his article, he presents what he thinks is a new trend in mobile design which takes mobile minimal design a step further. Basically, it means that more and more apps look strangely alike:<\/p>\n

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Complexion Reduction means white apps, with bigger bold headlines, black and white interfaces with little to no color, and line icons for the bottom menu.<\/p>\n

Now, let\u2019s do a quick test.<\/p>\n

\"0-qqapeze4vlz8kz3o\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Did you recognize automatically which app was which? I did nothing but changing the order of the screenshots and removing the app logos. Looking at these four screens, you\u2019re not entirely sure which app you\u2019re presented with.<\/p>\n

Medium understood how to make the reader experience easier and smoother on screen, and they came up with a very white interface, big fonts and bold headlines. Their design is entirely focused on the reading experience, and that\u2019s part of the reason why they\u2019ve succeeded. They focused entirely on why people would be using their apps (publish content and read) and created their design accordingly. While doing that, they also started a new trend that other apps followed.<\/p>\n

We use these apps daily, shouldn\u2019t we be able to tell them apart without thinking? How come their design got to a point where they look so much alike\u00a0?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

What happened to the Instagram dark-blue header? Where is the very image-friendly Airbnb app? And, the first thing Steve Jobs would yell about is \u201cWhy the hell is iTunes designed with solid<\/em> icons\u201d? As a user, I do feel there was some copy\/pasting here, and I don\u2019t like it.<\/p>\n

When I pointed it out to people around me, I\u2019ve been told that this trend is a good thing: \u201cI don\u2019t want to care for an app. I want to use it to do something, so if more apps looked alike, it\u2019s easier for me to use mobile apps\u201d<\/em>. I get it. We, as users, feel entitled to be given the very best of design when it comes to apps. Good mobile design is a given.<\/strong> We have all uninstalled apps from our phones just minutes after installing them because the interface and the experience were terrible. <\/p>\n

So, if complexion reduction makes it all simpler and smoother, why shouldn\u2019t we want more of it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s have a look at some other apps.<\/p>\n

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You immediately knew which app you\u2019re looking at, didn\u2019t you? Whatsapp, Netflix, Twitter and Spotify all have distinctive designs that have all evolved throughout the years, and yet can\u2019t be confused with any other.<\/p>\n

Let me tell you why I think we should all stay away from Complexion Reduction in mobile design, and how it\u2019s going to affect your app.<\/p>\n

Your user experience is unique. Your design should be too.<\/h2>\n

You are designing with a single thing in mind: your users. Users change from one app to another. They expect different things from one app to another. There are many ways that you can make a mobile experience great. But it always goes down to your users. Understanding them and and their whole experience. <\/p>\n

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\"With mobile design, you have the opportunity to create a personal link between your user and your app.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

For example, I\u2019m a huge Reddit<\/a> lurker (meaning I read way more than I participate). The desktop version of Reddit is quite unattractive to me, and I would probably have stopped using it if it weren\u2019t for their mobile app. It\u2019s not the best app I\u2019ve ever used, but it\u2019s perfect for what Reddit is meant for: it\u2019s easy to scroll through the content, to access my favorite subs, to comment. And even more, it\u2019s not because your app is \u201ccontent-first\u201d that your design has to be the same as any other \u201ccontent-first\u201d app<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Nobody will use a badly designed app, but we can use apps that don\u2019t do anything different from another app just because the design is better. Good design is one of the fundamental reasons why people will keep using your app.<\/strong> Shazam would probably never have been so successful if the design had not been a single touch button. It\u2019s engaging, easy, and perfect for their value proposal.<\/p>\n

Say yes to best practices. No to uniformity.<\/h2>\n

Within the digital-friendly workplace I\u2019m familiar with, I\u2019ve heard things like \u201cSilicon-Valley has already imposed its norm on us, we should just accept it and go with it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

This is a terrible argument. Yes, Silicon-Valley is shaping our world to extents we might not even realize anymore. I mean, just think about the startup-y, hipster-y, Scandinavian-style interiors invading every space we know. Airbnb contributed to a great deal to infuse this aesthetic into our minds.<\/a> It\u2019s becoming increasingly annoying to me. I don\u2019t want to have a coffee in the exact same place whether I am in Paris, New York, Rio de Janeiro or Bali. Of course, most coffee places need the same features to exist. Of course, there are coffee places that you enjoy more than others. Silicon-Valley only represents one way of doing things.<\/p>\n

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\"Silicon-Valley only represents one way of doing things.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

\"Best practices exist for a simple reason: they work. They\u2019ve been tested, and people adopted them, they are familiar with them.<\/strong> This is good for you: it\u2019s because you understand these best practices that you can use them to your advantage. I\u2019m not preaching against colorless apps with white background: it might work well for you. But<\/strong> I\u2019m encouraging you to create best practices yourself.<\/strong>\"<\/span><\/p>\n

The best design is the one you haven\u2019t designed\u00a0yet.<\/h2>\n

And you know it yourself. No mobile designer has ever said \u201cThat\u2019s it, I\u2019m done. There\u2019s nothing more I can do.\u201d There\u2019s always is something to improve. Just ask your users on a testing session. Trends fade. User expectations don\u2019t.<\/strong> If anything, they grow more and more demanding. With over 2.2 million apps available on the AppStore (for all devices), users have no time to waste, and they won\u2019t settle for less than perfect.<\/p>\n

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\"Users have no time to waste, and they won\u2019t settle for less than perfect.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

That\u2019s why one of the most important part of a designer's job is to relentlessly research. Research practices, research technology, research users. The app I\u2019m working on now has a bad retention ratio, so I\u2019ve spent countless hours sitting with users, trying to understand what could be improved. And now, there\u2019s not a single development sprint that goes by without us conducting a testing session. So never take anything that works as granted, because even the best things about your app can be improved<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Diversity makes us more creative.<\/h2>\n

We love habits. We love what we see every day. We love our comfort zone. Change makes us uncomfortable and scared. Best ideas happen when you least expect it. When we\u2019re confronted with the unknown we have to adapt, so we become more creative, more aware. We come up with new, challenging ideas.<\/p>\n

\"By multiplying our experiences, we get better at what we do. We get these crazy ideas that make us design innovative experiences. Plus, diversity makes us more empathetic by widening our perspectives so we ultimately design better products and interfaces<\/strong>.\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Look at Snapchat. A friend of mine working in digital who had never used the app was really baffled by the design when he first opened the app. Yet youngsters now use it way more than Facebook, and all those who were saying the app wouldn\u2019t last long have been proven wrong. Snapchat has been widely adopted in spite, and probably because of, their disruptive design.<\/p>\n

Treat your users to a masterpiece in design.<\/h2>\n

On average, we\u2019re spending at least 90 minutes a day on our phones. 23 days a year<\/em>. Near a month<\/em> just being on our phones. Our phone screen, not matter how small it is, is making up for 5% of our eye and mind-contact on a given day.<\/p>\n

So instead of trying to numb our minds with endlessly smooth and homogeneous design, it\u2019s precisely on mobile that new experiences and design are needed. If apps look more and more alike, it would be like reading the same book every day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, I was reading Michael Horton\u2019s article entitled \u201cComplexion Reduction: a new trend in Mobile Design\u201d and it got me thinking. In his article, he presents what he thinks is a new trend in mobile design which takes mobile minimal design a step further. Basically, it means that more and more apps look strangely alike: Complexion Reduction means white… Read More ￫<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":8384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-viewpoint"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\t\n