Now Question 2 is a mind doing it because it's good or because it's clever? 1
And to illustrate this I'm going to use an anti-pattern from the NBC News app. 2
Now I'm going to highlight their menu system. 3
Now the designer decided that it would be a good idea to make their menu in the shape of their logo. 4
So for those you guys who are unfamiliar, the NBC logo is essentially a peacock with a rainbow of feathers 5
that looks pretty much like the top half of this menu system. 6
And they thought, "Wouldn't it be cool if we can make our menus look like the logo?" 7
Now this is a classic example of doing it because it's clever rather than because it's good. 8
Why is that? 9
Well number 1, humans are really bad at reading at 90 degree angles when you've got your menu items 10
that are at 90 degrees. 11
And remember that when you turn this app to landscape it'll turn with the phone. 12
So it will be endless frustration for the users. 13
Plus if you think about it, what do you do if you have more than 12 items in your menu? 14
Well you kind of screwed because there's nowhere else to put it. 15
So this design is form above function and whenever you're making the design choice between form versus 16
function, always go for function. 17
So this is a clear anti-pattern. 18
If we compare this against USA Today's app, even though they've implemented a pretty boring what's called 19
Hamburger menu where the menu just slides out from the left 20
when you tap on the menu item, it's pretty boring and it has its own disadvantages namely that what's 21
out of sight is out of mind. 22
So people might not know what's within the menu system. But at least you can have more than 12 menu items 23
and at least the text is the right way up. 24
So these are really important considerations and sometimes when you're designing things it can be really 25
easy to get lost in your own thoughts and in your own ego. You might think "Oh I've just come up with 26
such a great idea. 27
This is so brilliant. 28
I am such a genius." 29
And you go along with it to 30
you know, to detrimental effects. So always get a second opinion.