I was the engineering leader for a grounds-up rebuild of a user dashboard this year. For the people who use it, it's part of how they make their living.<p>The process of working with design was the most user-hostile experience I've ever seen. There was quite a bit of "users don't know what they want" thrown around when people saw the beta and complained. It was used quite selectively, geared towards things the designer disagreed with. When the dashboard left beta, it was universally panned. All our KPIs tanked. What's more, it was considered a success because "redesigns are always poorly received." At all the jobs I've worked at, I've yet to discern any true rules that designers follow that aren't rationalizations.<p>I bring this up because nothing about this site...from its design to its content...resonates with me. If this is truly the best of 2019 then designers REALLY need to take a long, hard look at their culture.
From the very first line of the article:<p>"The mantra “focus on the user and all else will follow,” is always top of mind here at Google"<p>Please excuse me if I find that <i>shockingly</i> difficult to believe. Google is one of the most user-hostile of all the large tech companies. I'm genuinely surprised they even had the audacity to write that.
I wonder what the thought process behind putting character design like that in this post was. I find them utterly repugnant.<p>Combined with the color scheme (and as others have noted, page performance), I'd vote this for <i>worst</i> design of 2019.
The page looks like <a href="https://i.imgur.com/RqWJb7Q.png" rel="nofollow">https://i.imgur.com/RqWJb7Q.png</a> for more than 20 seconds until it finishes loading and then just keeps on downloading more and more and more data (400MB and counting). Pardon me if I ignore their ideas about design.
The whole gestures thing, besides a few handy ones, requires such a specific set of circumstances (flip the phone over, turn it the right way, make the gesture) to make them workable they are mostly forgotten about.<p>In general, it's just simpler to press the button.
This seems a lot more like an ad for their products or ideas than a breakdown of great examples of practical designs. I was hoping for examples I could learn from.
I don't know what the graphic style is called but I despise it. How is that type of drawing not something anyone can do? Honestly. Unless these drawings are done by children they are horrible, if they are I apologize and feel bad. I think Box.com or Dropbox used similar graphics early on.. apple had some going with apple.com/today but they have moved along.
>“A Space for Being” explored neuroaesthetics, the field exploring how design impacts our biology and emotions<p>no arguing about impact, i feel it just by looking at the picture. Being GenX, I'm probably older than the target demography (and the ones who designed it), and that is probably why the impact on me has different sign - it looks to me in a disturbingly unnerving way like a hybrid of prison cell and operating room from dystopias where mind control/altering procedures are performed.
Gotta love that Page Speed Insights score of 57/100 on mobile.<p>Maybe some of the HN Google employees can explain why AMP wasn’t used for this slow page?
A page that talks design in one of the worlds biggest companies - has drawings that looks like they're made from children.<p>Great, but the reason is obvious. It's to not offend anyone. That is the key of making modern art 2019, design and art that makes even the most grumpy SJWs happy.
This is a good summary of Google.<p>Self-righteous, convinced to be the best. A page full of awards to themselves that barely loads making it de facto the worst design ever.