RE: Another NNGroup post on the problems with Flat design.

I entirely agree with the second part of this – that the biggest problem with today’s “flat design” solutions is the lack of contrast.

However, I’m not entirely convinced that the removal of “visual clutter” like drop shadows is always a straight benefit for accessibility. Things like shadows and bevelling have often been used to clearly indicate the activation of a control. For example, when a control is activated the shadows are often changed to give the impression that the control has physically moved. This provides some immediate feedback that the control has been successfully activated. In my experience, I do not often get such clear and obvious feedback on many modern UI designs.

This type of clear success feedback is particularly reassuring for any people with cognitive disabilities who are uncomfortable with uncertainty.

Best regards

Mike

From: Chagnon | PubCom [mailto:chagnon@pubcom.com]
Sent: 05 September 2017 15:36
To: 'Steve Lee' <steve@opendirective.com>; 'public-cognitive-a11y-tf' <public-cognitive-a11y-tf@w3.org>
Subject: RE: Another NNGroup post on the problems with Flat design.

It's not the "Flat Design" that's the problem. That just means that visual clutter has been removed, such as drop shadows and beveled 3-D sculpted buttons.

That actually benefits accessibility.

The problem is the lack of visual contrast that is now in vogue with designers (and I'm speaking as a professional designer). It has nothing to do with the "flat design" theory, but is being built into websites, software, digital media, and graphic design along with the flat concept.

Grey text on a grey background isn't "flat design." It's just plain stupid and unreadable.

--Bevi Chagnon

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Lee [mailto:steve@opendirective.com]
Sent: Monday, September 4, 2017 2:23 PM
To: public-cognitive-a11y-tf <public-cognitive-a11y-tf@w3.org><mailto:public-cognitive-a11y-tf@w3.org%3e>
Subject: Another NNGroup post on the problems with Flat design.

"Flat UI Elements Attract Less Attention and Cause Uncertainty"

https://www.nngroup.com/articles/flat-ui-less-attention-cause-uncertainty

Steve Lee
OpenDirective http://opendirective.com




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