I’ve Got Better Things To Do Than This, and Yet

Louie Mantia commenting on Apple’s Liquid Glass and the modern UI creed of elevating content and making UI “get out of the way”:

QuickTime play controls used to be in the frame of the UI. That made the video completely uninhibited by any UI whatsoever. In fact, it is mostly recent UI that seems to get in the way by covering up the content. This is a relatively new trend, to set play controls on top of the video, where they fade away after a second or two. I’ve got all the space in the world, why cover up the video at all? Especially on my 16:9 TV, why is there ever a black gradient dimming the paused film to expose play controls that could all fit in the margins without doing so?

To me, modern UI isn’t getting out of the way, it’s often asserting itself over the content it claims to get out of the way of.

Personally, I love when content and chrome remain in balance — a yin and yang if you will — as opposed to one taking precedence over the other:

Going back to when UI was more visually separated from something like your photos, that puts the focus on the photos, because it differentiates the content area from the UI. Whereas now, it conflates the two.

Also a great observation on post-hoc design justifications:

Pretending this solves problems rather than creates them. Creating a narrative that supports the direction and presenting it in an overly pretentious way.