Nov 23rd, 2009
Does Your Software Application Need An Eye-Candy GUI?
Does my application need a colorful bright interface with amazing icons, animated skins and cool sound effects?
First, think about how much time does an average user spend working with your application per session and what does he use it for. If user spends more than 20-30 minutes per session within your application (which is not a game of course) then he might get tired of all these bells and whistles very quickly. The best GUI is the one you don’t even think about. It must be invisible and just lets get on with your job.
Think why Adobe Photoshop is gray like a dirt. Because, it must not divert designer’s attention while he is working with own image documents. Gray is one of the most invisible colors.
For example, we used this principle in our TBS Cover Editor - 3d box shot maker application.
Our first intention was to make a smashing GUI with the coolest effects ever. However, we stopped on a plain almost monochrome interface in order not to bother users with our coolness but let them fully concentrate on their box shots and cover designs.
Think if your GUI is invisible.
Computer users nowadays finding gui’s are not intrusive, oraganized accordingly in their sub-settings. And the last one is the eye-candy user interface.
I like the way you make the gui of your application. I will look at this one.