Welcome to RETHINK GUI 👋
If you're here, chances are you've felt it too: that subtle, creeping frustration with the direction modern software design has taken. We're promised "intuitive" and "user-friendly" experiences, yet often, what we get is anything but. This blog is my space to vocalize these frustrations and, hopefully, spark a conversation about a return to more thoughtful, efficient, and truly usable interfaces.
Let's start with some of the most pervasive offenders.
The Tyranny of Rounded Corners
It seems every element nowadays, from buttons to content blocks, must now be adorned with a curved edge. While a subtle radius can be aesthetically pleasing, the ubiquitous application of aggressively rounded corners has become an almost religious adherence, often at the expense of clarity and precision. What happened to the crisp, defined edges that provided clear visual boundaries? Now, everything feels soft, indistinct, and, frankly, a bit childish. It's a design trend that has overstayed its welcome and contributes to a visual homogeneity that makes distinguishing elements harder, not easier.
Animations for Animation's Sake
This is my biggest problem with modern user interfaces! While well-placed subtle animations can enhance user feedback, we've entered an era where every click, every hover, every state change is accompanied by an unnecessary movement.
Consider the pervasive trend of pages sliding left and right in applications, trying to mimic mobile app transitions on desktop. What was once an instant context switch is now a drawn-out, often jarring, visual effect. Beyond the sheer annoyance of waiting for these animations to complete, they frequently come with a significant performance drain, making the software feel distinctly less snappy. They consume CPU and GPU cycles, leading to stuttering, increased battery usage on laptops and smartphones, and often giving a perceived feeling of sluggishness, especially on less powerful hardware. These constant micro-animations don't make the software better; they just make it slower and more annoying, forcing us to wait while the interface performs its little gimmicky effects.
The Erosion of Readability and Navigation
Modern software often prioritizes current design trends over fundamental usability. Text that was once clearly legible, is now frequently rendered in ultra-light weights, low contrast colors, or minuscule sizes, making it a strain to read, especially on varying displays or for users with visual impairments.
Beyond text, navigation has become a guessing game. Menus are hidden behind ambiguous icons, crucial settings are buried deep within nested layers, and once-obvious actions require a scavenger hunt through obscure gestures or non-standard interactions. This inconsistency is particularly taxing for older generations, who often find themselves constantly needing assistance with technology that fundamentally changes its interaction patterns with every update. This complexity doesn't empower users; it alienates them, forcing them to learn a new, often inconsistent, language for every application.
Complexity Masquerading as Innovation
Ultimately, these trends contribute to an overarching problem: modern software feels unnecessarily complex and bloated. Features are piled on, not always because they're needed, but because they can be. The drive for "more" often overlooks the cost of cognitive overhead, performance degradation, and a general feeling of being overwhelmed. What was once a tool to simplify our lives has, in many cases, become a source of digital friction and frustration.
This blog is a call to rethink. To advocate for interfaces that are clear, efficient, and respect the user's time and intelligence. It's time to prioritize true usability over fleeting current design trends and feature bloat. Let's talk about how we can build software that genuinely serves us, rather than merely existing to showcase the latest design fad.