What’s on the menu?
With Summer rapidly eclipsing Spring it seems like an opportune moment to discuss the highly debated burger (menu).
Traditionally, burgers have titilated our tastebuds.
Whether you are a gluten free gladiator or simply a humanitarian vegetarian, the burger has always adjusted it’s content to fit your exclusive appetite.
Additionally, the burger is one of the only dishes that features globally on most menu’s known to mankind; It’s certainly crossed more borders than Putin in it’s lifetime.
On the topic of lifetime it has longevity, claiming to have risen from the ashes of a dinky Chicago Sandwich Bar’s grill in 1896.
Stripped from it’s original name, ‘hamburger’, this phenomenon even has a nickname.
The stats are almost as high as a Big Mac stack; 60% of sandwiches sold globally are actually burgers.
With all of these juicy, quirky and data centric attributes, why is the burger so heavily debated amongst designers and developers?
Marmite’s infamous tagline ‘you either love it or hate it’ mysteriously has been inherited by the burger menu in the software sphere.
For me there is no decision needed; I love it and here is why.
The Burger has been a constant companion on your cyber journey since the day you got your first computer.
Similarly to it’s nutriment namesake, the burger’s format has evolved to accommodate our digital diet.
The ‘flat’ icon fad engulfing practices, is proof the burger menu has longevity, embracing yet another iconographic craze.
Although a new device dips into our life each day, the mediums are not changing; all are pictures beneath glass.
I emphasise pictures because I believe in designing to evolve and educate user experiences.
Software development has always been about simplifying and minifying.
As has every other development practice.
The main variable across devices is scale and state, until these variables change, the burger should be the first option on the menu.
Just like our changing appetite, the burger happily fulfils all screen size appetites as well as interaction states.
The traditional purpose of the burger is to hide menu information under a simple ‘button’.
I think it is much, much more than this and the argument for traditional nav bars is, in my opinion, ‘lazy’.
Single Page applications follow this trend, utilising a digi-mantra of minimalism.
From a UX perspective the easy option is to provide all menu options or even a ‘menu’ button.
Unlike text, the burger carries no language barrier and can be served on any device.
The three tier stack as a shape can also be baked in any way imaginable.
Unlike the word ‘Menu’ which cannot be creatively rendered in the same way.
This may fit the ageing demographic who haven’t blossomed digitally.
However, our emoji era is obsessed with iconography over text.
The crunchy Apple has proved, with it’s watches UI, that it prioritises iconography.
Similar to a byron burger, The digital burger can be packed with creativity.
From borders to transitions, we can gobble it up whatever colour or width it may be.
We crave personality in digital design and the ‘shock of the new’ always sticks.
Tapping, clicking or flicking that crisp burger is comparable to unlocking the secret flipping garden.
The reveal requires thought, attention and most importantly personality.
The actual transition into pixel paradise from the left, top, right or the bottom of our screens is not a play.
No no no, it is comparable to a ‘Sleep No More’ performance.
Encouraging interaction and exploration which for me is an ‘experience’.
for me, it’s a shame this performance and shock is not transferred into more components.
Unlike text, the burger carries no language barrier and can be served on any device.
The flare rests in the burger not the ‘menu’.
On that note, I would like to order one juicy burger!
