Tom Davenport

"Against Chrome: A Manifesto" →

Good points on interface design and the proliferation of that ‘Chrome’ look (the colour/finish, not the browser), citing examples from audio software including Logic:

Chrome arises from a chronic case of object-envy. We like interacting with physical objects in the real world, goes the reasoning, so it will presumably be more pleasant to interact with computer software if it pretends to be a physical object too. But why? Couldn’t the appeal of using a computer be that of a world precisely without friction and texture, a world where things are weightless, virtual and easy?

He goes on to observe that, surprisingly, the design hero of today could be the Windows Phone 7 with its minimalist flat look:

I say that flat is the new black; that 2D is the new avant-garde; that a surface doesn’t have to be ashamed of being a surface. 

Thanks to @TomWhitwell for the link.

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