P: New user interface lacks contrast and many usability cues, lots of other problems

[J Isner]

I just updated to Photoshop CC(2015) version 2015.1. Adobe changed the UI to the flat look you see on phones and tablets. I do not see any way to select the classic interface, which I'm sure many desktop users of PS prefer.

This feels yet another attempt by Adobe to be trendy without caring about what users want or need. Didn't they learn anything from the dumbed-down Lightroom import fiasco?

[mrsnak]

I think the consensus here was the pragmatic, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". We all were happy with the look, feel and functionality of 2014. the first 2015 would have been fine ,but burying SFW threw us all for a loop in a bad way...

[Antonio_Starace]

Now that Herbert posted this comparative screens it is even more obvious what all this is about: the new UI is lacks everything that was perfectly fine in the classic one. It lack contrast, readability, separations, too bright or too dark and basically a flat grey surface where the eye does not see targets and the mouse can't seem to click on the right spot.
And what scares me is that they think they did the right choice and will do the same to the other apps.

[Antonio_Starace]

3) We will not be adding a "classic UI” checkbox into the UI. Photoshop did not do that when we made the UI changes for CS6 either.

Of course you didn't, because you never had to since this is the first time you have done such a ridiculous thing. A UI switch is not for "the ones who like to live in the past" but to partially fix a tragic error. And no, I don't think you can improve this disaster.

4) Thank you for your specific comments about the centering of the text in the buttons. We will be addressing this in a future version.

I dare to say that what we have now can not even be called buttons. The do not look like buttons nor they behave like buttons.

I personally can't  add more issues because I hated the UI at first sight and reverted back to the revision before.

[HerbertReininger]

@Antonio Starace That scares me too.

A LOT!

I live most of my working life in InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop, in that order. Other CC apps too, but not as much. I predict that if this "relaxed" UI makes its way into all CC apps  Adobe will face a huge backlash from the pro community.

Just imagine you are in Premiere Pro which already has a pretty complex interface and you have a client breathing down your neck and you are desperately trying to navigate this "relaxed" new UI, every move needs to be double checked because the targets are so washed out and undefined – how does that make you feel?

Certainly not "relaxing" for me.

[allebarat]

I don't think we can do much better than the screenshot which Herbert posted. I fully understand the desire to go with the currently hip style of flat design, but it's certainly possible to do that while retaining contrast.

Thanks for your explanation that the new interfaced was released before it is completely finished. That helps me understand why it's so inconsistent. For example, the "recent files" screen has hover states for the buttons, yet the "new" file dialog has no hover states. Then there's the "save" dialog, which uses the system UI. Really, for the life of me, I cannot imagine why Adobe believe's it needs to make it's own special UI for any of this. It would be so very simple to just use the system UI (which doesn't require any custom code whatsoever).

[AnnShelbourne]

I have a question for Jeff Sass:

Bearing in mind that your new UI is registering a 99.97% Disapproval Rating in this Forum:

Did you not receive any feedback from anyone who actually tested this UI by using it to work in Photoshop for themselves for any extended length of time (not just from those who got a quick look at a pre-rehearsed Max demonstration!) before you unleashed it on paying Customers?

And if you did receive any feedback, was it a 180° contradiction to the opinions which have been expressed in this thread?

And, just supposing that you did receive unfavourable feedback, what did your team do to address those concerns or to alert senior Adobe Managers of your concerns?

Or were such concerns just arrogantly ignored (and perhaps hidden from Management?) with the hope that the issues would go away (instead of the Customers themselves being the ones who are going away)?

This whole Redesign of the UI is an abject failure at every level and It would be encouraging to hear that you might be beginning to recognise that foisting it on paying Subscribers has been a major misjudgement and that more accomplished and experienced Designers are being brought on board in order to rectify this appalling mess?

[brucet53718289]

If any of the Adobe HEX attendees found the new UI interface 'relaxing' there must have been Prozac in the coffee. Personally I find it infuriating.

As others (and myself earlier) have said a hover state on buttons is useful, a button that changes after you have clicked on it is not. Text boxes that are merely an underscore are not useful. Fifty shades of grey (dark through mid) are not useful. The latest tool icons are not useful.

Legibility and an intuitive interface is paramount in any professional software...on these accounts Adobe has failed its loyal customers.

[Guest]

"3) We will not be adding a "classic UI” checkbox into the UI."

Kinda reminds me of  explanations from my mom when I was 12.  No because no.

Ok mom.  If you're not going to let us have the functional "classic UI",  please make sure you make the jazzy millennial relaxed UI functional.

Button states.  Contrast. Traditional highlighting.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

[Guest]

the UI was cleaner, easier to use and made using the product feel more "relaxing". These comments were from long time Photoshop customers as well as new customers.

How would a new customer know that the new UI was "more relaxing" to use than it used to be if they had no experience with the old one? Hmm.

[mrsnak]

It all gets down to the critical point of Design 101 that form MUST follow function. Hipster UI trends aside, Adobe, if it wants to be a true leader in this area of software needs to remain independent of trends, while at the same time being able to interface with the user norm. It’s not a race with Jonny Ive.

[Guest]

did you post the "material design" image?
I can't see it :))

[Guest]

Chris: thank you for listening.

[brucet53718289]

^ Sorry, Adobe MAX*

[Guest]

Hi Jeff,

I have a suggestion that might save you a lot of work.

When you all are sitting around contemplating UI changes, do a mock up in PS.  It might take only a few hours? you could copy a screen shot or 10 of the last version and paint in the new color ideas, like very very black on somewhat less very very black on very black and post them.

You might get some feedback before you get more that a very few hours into it.  And while you would of course hear different opinions cuz people are diff, you might also get a feeling for how it looks across a wide spectrum of monitors (cheap, not cheap; calibrated, not calibrated; in ideal viewing condition rooms and not, etc.)  

You could even do a survey asking "what monitor do you use? can you turn off the lights? (I can't); is it calibrated? etc.

[Guest]

And tested at Adobe Max?  using at a conference in ONE room ambient with ONE type of monitor/projection setup and on and on is NOT testing across a customer base of various rooms, lighting, monitors, eyesight, etc.  Plus many conference goers would not walk up to "you" and say "this st..ks"; even I probably wouldn't.  :))

I might cringe, but in the dark you wouldn't see that 🙂

Plus, don't know about other presenters, but if I were putting on a presentation I would try to have a bright display or projector.

That is not how one adjusts their monitor when trying to print match.  For print matching the monitor is typically calibrated at a brightness of about 100 hmmm is it foot candles?  forget the unit, but it is DIM.

BUT BUT I am really glad that you and the other Adobe "guys" are listening here.  I thought that the topic was being ignored (friend just pointed me to this forum tonight).

[Guest]

If you think this is bad, just try to change a gradient in a mask.  I at least haven't found it to be possible at all.

[pawelrog]

"3) We will not be adding a "classic UI” checkbox into the UI. Photoshop did not do that when we made the UI changes for CS6 either. We are very interested in making improvements and we appreciate the discussion on this thread for how we can improve it for a future version."

Well..this is just rude. 100 of your customers is saying they dont like it and you just said: who cares....

[mrsnak]

More importantly, the UI changes in CS6 were nowhere as poorly designed and implemented as these. No one had issues with that one. Go back to that and all will be fine. No changes or "improvements" necessary.

[Earth Oliver]

Jeff, have you not realized that your current pre-release team is failing left and right? They've missed countless obvious bugs and issues with the CC15&16 releases. If they can't even get that right, then why are you trusting their input about the UI? 

Honestly, the new UI looks like it was designed by a first year art student. There's nothing refined or elegant about it. It's sloppy, inconsistent and very poorly designed. I mean, it's usable, but just barely. 

[Guest]

I can tell you for sure that the first year art student would have failed any competent design class.

[J Isner]

@Jeff Sass Were the customers who gave you feedback at Adobe Mix using the full version of Photoshop on workstations, or some "express version" of Photohop, like Photoshop Fix, running on iOS?  If the latter, their feedback on the UI is irrelevant. 

[J Isner]

This article "How Adobe is Re-imagining Photoshop for the Mobile Era" gives a clue about what Adobe is thinking.  I found a link to the article on the Twitter page of Mathew Richmond, Director of Experience Design at Adobe.

[AnnShelbourne]

"Flat Design" was trendy in 2011 but five years later it has already become distinctly out-dated because the weakness in its functionality has now been exposed.

Some of the reasons for discarding this fleeting fashion are stated in these two articles from the Neilson Norman Group.
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/flat-design/
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/flat-design-long-exposure/

From the summation of the first article:
[QUOTE]
As with any design trend, we advise balance and moderation.
Don’t make design decisions that sacrifice usability for trendiness.
Don’t forget that—unless you’re designing only for other designers—you are not the user. Your preferences and ability to interpret clickability signifiers aren’t the same as your users’ because you know what each element in your own design is intended to do.    [/QUOTE]

Perhaps Adobe needs to appoint  new UI and UX Design Groups who are more aware of the current standards and requirements for User Interface Design?

[brucet53718289]

What really irks me is not only the stupid 'flat' design but the ridiculously super-stupid murky shades of grey, grey and more grey. What's coming next month...blue, blue and more blue, or green, green and more green?? Adobe please, the CS6 and even the CC2014 UI's weren't broken but CC2015 is...well...a CHILDISH effort at best.

[grauenwölfe]

"Flat Design" was trendy in 2011 but five years later it has already become distinctly out-dated because the weakness in its functionality has now been exposed.

Love this. I think I may well put this on a t-shirt.