Flat Design
-Summary of the technique
Flat design is technique for interface styling which counts on minimum use of stylistic elements that give the illusion of three dimensions, for example: drop shadows, gradients or textures. It is not like usually focused on flat colors, simple elements and complicated structures. I prefer this technique because it allows the design to be more streamlined and efficient. Flat design is primarily influenced by the International Typographic Style (also known as Swiss Style). This technique is also used in Microsoft products like Windows phone 7 released in 2010. Due to its success it was also used in Windows 8 and all further Operating Systems. The use of bold colors, simple typography, long shadow and ghost buttons are some of the crucial elements of flat design. Again, the design is dominated by grid shapes, sharp edges, right colors and clean typography. Furthermore, in 2013, Apple released iOS7 featuring flat UI design elements, moving away from skeuomorphic design.
-The UX Design Process
This technique is part of the cycle Research->Design->Test->Repeat. So mainly these techniques belong to the design part, as the name shows. But this does not mean that the results of it will not be used anywhere else. It is just the opposite. The plan of my team is to work one after another. After the research is finished I will use the results to design and then I will pass my flat design prototype to Gasten who is going to use it for his tests and after that I will again improve the design so that it fits at most to our users.
-Advantages
First of all, it is easier for users to quickly convey information while still looking visually appealing and approachable. Furthermore, it is much easier to design an interface that is responsive to changes in browser size across different devices. With minimal design elements, websites are able to load faster and resize easily, and still look sharp on high-definition screens.
-Disadvantages
The primary drawback to flat design is that it tends to sacrifice users’ needs for the sake of trendy aesthetics. For years, users had been exposed to traditional signifies of click ability, such as blue, underlined links and 3-D effect on buttons, as design trends shifts and users are exposed to new patterns, the average user’s ability to intuitively identify linked elements has evolved. But just because users are better at detecting linked elements doesn’t mean they don’t need any clues at all. In fact, the term exposure to these flat yet clickable elements have been slowly reducing user efficiency by complication their understanding of what is clickable and what isn’t.
-Contribution of the technique to the group
Well we might have some problems with the Mental Model technique in the research part, because we ask the user how do they imagine the user interface. And if they say something really fancy it might be a problem to implement it with the flat design.
However, with the Guerrilla test I can say that we will have good synergy because I will deliver him a working prototype which he can directly use in a local coffee to do his test.
-The DOT framework
My technique uses the WORKSHOP and LAB strategy from the DOT framework. First of all, because the WORKSHOP strategy includes hands-on experience, and I will implement the results from our user research. Moreover, this strategy includes the improvement of existing product which is going to be done after I have feedback from the tests that Gasten is going to do. Since we want to give working prototype to our testing member, it is really important to use also the lab strategy, because during the tests we want the users to concentrate on usability and not functionality.
