Bearfruit

I was talking to a good friend of mine - one of the most elite graphic designers I know - and he made a simple comment that, as often happens when speaking to someone of great wisdom, communicated something with tremendous meaning in only a few words. It was something I knew but would have been hard pressed to describe or communicate to others.

It was about using graphics on websites but has a far broader scope than that. I’ll reword his statement somewhat to remove the context of the original conversation. He said that if you notice the drop shadows then the designer has failed.

The meaning here is that graphical effects such as drop shadows, glossy buttons and the such are there to help you communicate some information. The goal is not to show the world that you know how to make a drop shadow, the goal is to use a drop shadow to draw attention to an important element. Therefore if someone has noticed your drop shadow you’ve failed to draw attention to an important element, instead you’ve distracted your user.

The same goes true for desktop animations and effects in Ubuntu/Compiz. There are two reasons to use effects - you can use effects to make the desktop users more productive or you can use effects to create a nifty (or not nifty) animation.

Powerpoint users have been struggling with this same set of options for a decade. It may be fun to make your presentation use a lot of animations but it rarely helps your presentation at all. As a matter of fact, it usually distracts your viewers and hinders your presentation.

It’s a challenge to look at your design and scrutinize it to ensure you’re using design elements to draw attention to the proper parts and avoiding distracting with unneeded features. Yet it is necessary.