mcksp

UI minimalism is bad

Recently I've been getting more and more frustrated with minimal UI and apps afraid of exposing the inner state to the user (I took that phrase from Berkeley Graphics' design philosophy).

I want to know in my music player if the song is cached or is downloading, if it's playing through bluetooth or through jack. If it's not playing, then where is the issue: bluetooth, internet connectivity or anywhere else?

And if your washing machine app (yeah, washing machines are using 3.6GB data a day to keep your clothes clean) "really" requires a constant network connection, don't ask nontechnical person to "connect to wifi" on a phone that is already connected to it, be clear and say "we need a password for your wifi to connect washing machine with your home network". But ideally don't force anyone to do that.

Don't treat your user like a dumb dumb that can't handle the truth.