This was in response to the parent comment that "bright colors are used to distract from complexity".
The article associates "flat design" with childlike, but does not provide any reasonable argument for this association. It is simply an emotional reaction to a new design trend.
There are some good points about gamification and cartoon mascots, but its hard to separate from these unbased ideas about style.
"Bright colors in these examples are used to distract from lack of complexity" is not nearly the same as "bright colors are always used to distract from complexity".
The subway map is completely off-topic when it comes to content of article. Literally none of it is about visualizing complex structures.
Frankly, one needs to willfully misrepresent the article if one things that subway map is contraexample to any statement in the article. It is not, it is just shifting the topic so that you can claim article is wrong while arguing about something else.
While digital technology led designers to prefer flat, modular and responsive elements, this does not explain why contemporary interfaces and brand designs have started to address adults as if they were kids: breaking down complexity, colourful design, big typography, and animated animals or things with friendly faces.
This just jumbles so many different things together. Animated animals might be associated with children, but colorful design or breaking down complexity has nothing to do with childishness. The subway map is an obvious counterexample.
Comments
This was in response to the parent comment that "bright colors are used to distract from complexity".
The article associates "flat design" with childlike, but does not provide any reasonable argument for this association. It is simply an emotional reaction to a new design trend.
There are some good points about gamification and cartoon mascots, but its hard to separate from these unbased ideas about style.
"Bright colors in these examples are used to distract from lack of complexity" is not nearly the same as "bright colors are always used to distract from complexity".
The subway map is completely off-topic when it comes to content of article. Literally none of it is about visualizing complex structures.
Frankly, one needs to willfully misrepresent the article if one things that subway map is contraexample to any statement in the article. It is not, it is just shifting the topic so that you can claim article is wrong while arguing about something else.
While digital technology led designers to prefer flat, modular and responsive elements, this does not explain why contemporary interfaces and brand designs have started to address adults as if they were kids: breaking down complexity, colourful design, big typography, and animated animals or things with friendly faces.
This just jumbles so many different things together. Animated animals might be associated with children, but colorful design or breaking down complexity has nothing to do with childishness. The subway map is an obvious counterexample.