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Posted
over 15 years
ago
Edit: Apparently a lot of this stuff (especially the branding) isn’t confirmed yet, ie, this isn’t the final look and feel. Also I have heard that the person who took the screenshots likes having the window controls on the left on his computer.
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Either way, expect stuff to change over the next couple of days. I’m hoping the controls will move back to the right. Perhaps in future, announcements like this could include a bit that says it’s subject to change, and if you’re going to include screenshots, include the default settings. Thanks everyone!
Some of you may have seen the new Ubuntu branding which was announced today. I think it looks fantastic, I love the new logo font and the new colour scheme, I love the new website too. The boot screen is simply gorgeous and I do actually like the purple thing going on. I think that a branding refresh is long overdue; brown is all well and good, but we’ve been with brown for almost 6 years now and I am pleased that Canonical is changing. But I do personally have some issues with a couple of things that I would like to raise in the hopes of sparking some discussion.
Firstly I am interested in the decision to move the window controls (minimize, maximize, close) to the left. To me, this decision doesn’t add anything new, and from a design standpoint, doesn’t make sense. It is my understanding that window controls are theme-specific, ie, you can set another theme and the controls will move. (Which is actually a bad thing – users don’t expect the window controls to change location when they simply change their theme).
I know that a lot of people don’t change their system from the default theme – they haven’t done in the past with the Human theme, and now that this theme is a prettier, they’re even less likely to. Which means that as small and as insignificant as you think this change is, it actually will affect a lot of people.
I’d just like to give you some background about my design knowledge – in case you think I’m a rambling fool
I’m not new to design. I have been designing websites for years, all through high school where I was awarded the computer web design prize for two years in a row in 6th and 7th form. Since then I have done web design work for a number of clients, and also created websites for my own projects and myself. I work on UI mockups for programs like Quickshot, and have done logo design for my clients and projects such as the Ubuntu Manual Project and Ground Control.
From a design standpoint, the window controls on the left don’t make sense. They clutter the left, which already has the window menus (file, edit, view etc) and now also has the window title. In Nautilus, and many other programs, things like bread crumb navigation menus are left-aligned, same with sidebars and other controls. It makes the entire window layout look quite lop-sided and out of balance, as if Nautilus wasn’t as cluttered enough as it is. Nautilus now has four “layers” of menus and options in the top of the window before you even get anywhere near what you actually want to do: browse files.
Compare that to Finder in Mac OS X (which Ubuntu seems to be taking many hints from):
I’m not the only one who thinks Nautilus is overly cluttered. The elementary team have modified Nautilus to make it prettier and less complicated. Obviously Nautilus is upstream and out of Ubuntu’s control, and there’s not much we can do to remove some of the clutter at our end. But we can try to minimize the effect of it by spreading stuff out across all the space that we’ve got, and the window controls on the right did that quite well. But now all we’re doing is adding to the clutter by having them on the left.
Mac OS X can pull off left-aligned window controls because they have the window menus (file, edit, view etc) in the panel – not the windows. If you’ve ever used OS X you’ll know what I mean. It doesn’t look cluttered at all, and it’s fine. Apple also chuck in a search box on the right to balance it instead of having this big chunk of space. They moved the controls to the left not necessarily based on anything in particular, but more to distinguish themselves from Windows, who is their main competitor.
The new left-aligned window controls don’t make sense not just from a design standpoint, but also from a user-base standpoint. Ubuntu users have always had window controls on the right, and that’s what they’re used to. By default, upstream GNOME has its controls on the right, and always has done. There is absolutely no genuine reason for moving them, there’s been no complaints, no usability issues, nothing. And considering that most of Ubuntu users come from Windows, moving the controls to the left just gives them one more thing to get used to when they make the jump, which is one more point for them when they argue that they don’t want to change because they’re already used to Windows. As we have already seen, this is a real problem because there is high demand for things like Zorin OS and the XPGnome Windows XP Ubuntu theme.
It is a proven fact that Windows users are reluctant to change, so why make it even harder?
So, I want to know – what do left-aligned window controls actually add to the Ubuntu experience? What is the reasoning behind this change?
The second gripe I have about the branding is the inconsistency with the logos. Canonical has a trademark policy that has some Logo Usage Guidelines at the bottom:
Our logos are presented in multiple colours and it is important that their visual integrity be maintained. It is therefore preferable that the logos only be used in their standard form but if you should feel the need to alter them in any way you should keep the following guidelines in mind. It should also be borne in mind that the more you wish to vary our logos from their standard form the smaller is the chance that we will be able to approve your proposed use.
If presented in multiple colours, the logo should only use the “official” logo colours.
You may use transparency and gradient/depth tools but should retain the “official” colours.
A monochrome version may be acceptable in certain situations, if the use requires it (e.g. desktop backgrounds).
Any scaling must retain the original proportions of the logo.
Okay, so that’s good. I appreciate that this is yet to be updated for the new branding and logo. What I can’t get my head around, is why the new artwork for the Ubuntu online services don’t conform to the new logo change. Take a look at the new logo closely again:
It’s a white circle of friends inside a larger orange circle. Now take a look at the brainstorm logo:
Hold up a sec, that’s the original coloured circle of friends, made 3D and on its side. “Any scaling must retain the original proportions of the logo.”
Now take a look at the Ubuntu QA logo (whatever Ubuntu QA is):
That’s just the old logo with a big green tick through it. “If presented in multiple colours, the logo should only use the “official” logo colours.” Now have a look at the “spread Ubuntu” logo:
That logo is the same as the first one, but inversed so the circle is white and the logo is orange. Actually, I think the logo has the original colours, but it’s too small for me to see clearly.
Then take the logo in the panel on the new theme:
That one’s a monocolour version of the logo. Now take a look at the boot splash screen logo:
That one is the original circle of friends inside a white circle this time.
Can anyone say inconsistency?
So let’s recap:
On the colour front, we have a monocolour version, an original version, a white version on a new orange, an orange version on white and a logo with a green tick in it.
On the layout/orientation front, we’ve got logos on their own, logos inside circles, logos with other things in or on top of them and a logo that’s been made 3D and is now flat on the ground.
Alan Pope says in his blog post that “Canonical have put together a world-class design team to come up with these changes.” I’m sorry, but designers should know the importance of consistency in branding.
People associate logos and images with ideas, concepts, products and companies. By being inconsistent across all of these platforms, they’re risking user confusion and disassociation with products, and not to mention not conforming to their own logo usage rules laid down for the community.
I know it’s early days, and that this sort of stuff might change, but it’s unlikely because they released it on the day of the Lucid User Interface freeze and if it wasn’t finished, Canonical wouldn’t announce it. I think there have been some oversights on basic company marketing and I would like to raise them, because I love Ubuntu, I work very hard for Ubuntu, and I am concerned that we’re taking a step backward here.
As I said in my first paragraph, everything else I like a lot. The purple is cool and unique (sort of – nevermind that Mac OS X also has a purple wallpaper by default), the boot screen is gorgeous, the new font is clean, sharp and fresh and the monospace logo in the panel is cool. Minimalism is the trend, Canonical knows that, but I honestly think more work is needed.
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