How to innovate without having to do it at all

A few days ago Apple introduced the long-awaited graphical revamp of its mobile operating system and I can't find more words than "ugly" to briefly describe it. Now, outside of the field of the first reaction, we do not have much more than disappointment to rescue: iOS 7 is basically the same system as always, but with a more garish color palette, transparencies that border on the ridiculous and not very encouraging news.

Although Apple is not a theme for this space, this event can serve as an example of poor design decisions on a somewhat more general topic: user interfaces and how to update them appropriately. Let's dismiss the Apple issue for a moment, but not before thanking this company for having eliminated all residue of desire for one of their devices from our minds.

Plain design

"Less is more". This phrase, perhaps repeated as a mantra by some lonely designer in another corner of the world; it is the basic principle that sustains the current trend for a simpler design and better adapted to the actual use that is given to the applications. However, this seemingly simple concept has degenerated into an effort to turn everything into a flat and simple reflection of already obsolete conceptions.

I explain. While designing physical objects is a process entirely tied to reality and its limitations, designing a computer application has its limit directly on the idea on which it was conceived. And there is always room for improvement, however magnificent it may be.

Let's think of a quick example: Google. Standardizing the appearance of your services is a great step towards consistency that directly benefits the user by avoiding the need to relearn concepts that are repeated throughout your platform. That's why the new Google+ experience is so frustrating: reinventing the wheel is useless.

There is no consistency. There is no concentration. The rules of the game changed too fast. And all this accompanied by ridiculous details such as the "happy bell" in the notifications or the unnecessary scrolling of the top bar.

La Linus Torvalds fury It is justified, but it has the wrong reasons. The problem is not the typography, it is the idea that Google proposes. The horror.

Holding on to preconceptions is not good and unfortunately, it will be something that we will see repeatedly during this flat and simplistic fad that continues to change absolutely nothing in the way we use our applications.

Simple design

In how many clicks can you write an email? An ideal route could take us from opening the program, pressing the "New" button and after typing it and verifying the details of the recipients and attachments; until giving a final click on «Send». Three theoretical clicks that sound like a reasonable thing even if in practice it is not.

Let's think about how many tasks could be brought to even similar efficiency and how the programs in charge of performing these tasks would look like; without even thinking of a "flat" shape for them. There is always a better way to do things, even if it is very difficult to find. A wonderful example is the 10 × 10 technique, which can be summed up as drawing the idea in question ten times, different each time, and then ten times more for the winning idea. A tiring process, but with an invaluable harvest.

One more example: how can we improve a relatively passive action, like listening to music? KDE has in my opinion one of the best audio players out there, but it has room for improvement, as we have seen that it has everything. A particularly widespread problem is repeated information. Let's take a look at the following screenshot:

The track name is repeated five times in the default layout. In the window title, above the progress bar, in the playlist and in the «Context» and «Lyrics» applets (the latter is not shown because Amarok did not find the lyrics of the song), not counting the notification that appears when the track begins. I want to think that just one time is enough, but this is unreal.

Following the new trend of removing the title from the window - which extends both to free desktops, such as Pantheon from elementary OS or GNOME, as well as proprietary ones, such as Mac OS X - at least one repetition of the track name could be removed.

The slim toolbar - which I use - takes another from us, and finally, a change to the applets would remove even one more.

These types of details are easy to correct and do not present serious conflicts to use a program. But there are examples galore of more serious problems, especially in the field of mobile applications.

Innovate without innovating

KDE has a great opportunity to improve exponentially in a hypothetical graphical update. A major graphical revamp would face the challenge of keeping the typical KDE customization in a new paradigm; but I really have confidence in the people behind this project.

Oxygen needs a facelift, but it's not really serious and to take it lightly would be wasting opportunities like Apple has done. The idea is not to turn KDE into a white canvas with colorful fonts, but to create a new and visually pleasing experience for us, its users.

We can ask for simple things. A more sober color palette in the icons to remove the stigma of the glass that they have been dragging for a long time. Simplify widgets of Oxygen without actually making it look so plastic as GNOME.

All of this involves enormous work. But I must insist that all those changes that would make us enormously happy do not really solve anything. We have to rethink the way we use our applications today and build something wonderful new from what we find.

I say KDE because I have gained enormous confidence in the project. I've gotten used to KDE and I don't see other environments with the same eyes anymore. I wish I could contribute more than just these words of encouragement to the designers, artists, and programmers who build this on a daily basis, and I say this because I believe they know what they are doing and where they are going.

There is no need to reinvent the wheel. You don't have to paint it white and blue and say it's new. You have to take that well-made wheel that is already KDE and turn it into a jet engine. And I am confident that this will sooner or later materialize on the screen in front of me.

The music presented in the screenshot can be obtained legally and free of charge at the following links:

• Apply Within by Hot Fiction.

• Self Titled by Bayard Russell.

• The Politics of Desire by Revolution Void.