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?

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

> Are these guys just lemmings following others, or thinking for themselves?>

I suspect the UI designers have read all the justifications for the type of design they created and have memorized why it's a better design than anything that's gone before. I suspect they believe in it, or at least those in charge do. They just don't use our software to create the sort of things we create with our apps.

But looking at past history, we can rest assured that something new in UI design will soon be given to us. We can hope we like it. <BG>

[grauenwölfe]

Somebody at Adobe is smitten with Google's "material design" theme. It has the same lame underlines in place of text entry fields.

Bingo! Toddler Design is the new Swiss Design.

Here is the stolen "inspirational" source for our nifty new entry fields:


Here are a few more examples, extremely popular with users from age 6 months old to 3 years old. Fisher-Price was so ahead of their time.



Have to admit though, at least they're not afraid of a little color which is good, but this goes a little far.

[TrimMark]

Aha, your reply's answer my (not so good formulated) question and confirm my suspicions.
No upgrading for me... yet.

I also suspect the UI is designed only (OK, mainly) for the dark color theme and is even worse in the (2nd) lightest color theme where I work in.  (So much better for my eyes. I get tired a lot sooner when working with the dark color theme.)

Anny way...
Thanks for the reply's all!

[TrimMark]

Aha, your reply's answer my (not so good formulated) question and confirm my suspicions.
No upgrading for me... yet.

I also suspect the UI is designed only (OK, mainly) for the dark color theme and is even worse in the (2nd) lightest color theme where I work in.  (So much better for my eyes. I get tired a lot sooner when working with the dark color theme.)

Anny way...
Thanks for the reply's all!

[Jonas_M__Rogne]

Yeah, contrast is worse on the lighter themes. Adobe has replied that they are aware of it and is working on it for a future version.

[RobertTarabella]

Sure. It's been a year since they foisted the swampy mess of gray upon us. It would not take more than a few weeks to add some contrast -- unless of course, they have no plan on doing that.
My bet is the delicate and fragile egos of the Millennial UI designers have been bruised and they have retreated to their safe spaces so our words can't trigger micro agressions against them.

[TrimMark]

Is there not one (big)  shareholder that uses Photoshop and thinks: WTF?!
🙂

[mrsnak]

It's like Adobe made a deal with Google to fold Google's material design standards into theirs, even if they are detrimental to the user experience. 

Adobe has lost sight of the primary design rule: form follows function.
Any first semester art school student knows this.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

>  and is even worse in the (2nd) lightest color theme where I work in>

Oh dear. That one, imo, is the only scheme that is unusable. You might try the lightest scheme. It's really not as light as people who want the light scheme want it to be. I think it's much closer to what the 2nd lightest scheme would be. The light schemes aren't good for my eyes, and the darkest scheme still has too much contrast in too many places (with not enough where no one seems to see enough differentiation).

There are some lovely features (Select and Mask being a great idea but not making the grade yet as lovely feature), so it's mostly nice to work with the latest release. But not in that 2nd lightest. I'd work in broad daylight or blackout before I'd work in that muddy environment.

Just be sure, if you decide to try it for yourself, you click on Advanced in the Creative Cloud app when it asks you about installing, and say DO NOT REMOVE previous apps. Maybe someday that design team will understand how dangerous and unnecessary it is to put anything under Advanced in the Installation screen. (sigh)

By installing the one without uninstalling the other, you can try for yourself, even jump into the latest if there's a feature or two worth it, and then back into an earlier version for the rest of it.

[RobertTarabella]

Since this product is used by people who are very sensitive to design issues (and presumably Adobe knows this), they could have given us a more expressive "interface" prefs panel. Instead of boxing us into the several gray-on-gray options (don't get me started...) I would have liked the ability to use a set of slider controls to set the background color, text color, and highlight color for the entire interface. That would have prevented 90% of our griping.

[Jeff-Adobe]

Hi everyone,

Adobe employees continue to read this thread. Thanks for your feedback.

We are focusing our efforts around the selection color right now for the next release. This is specifically #12 from our list in my previous post. We are looking at making that a user preference.

12) We are investigating the selection colors. For example, the selected layer color that was light blue in the previous release.

Thanks,
Jeff

[mrsnak]

What prevents you from simply returning to the easy to read white text field boxes?

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

@jeffsass 12) We are investigating the selection colors. For example, the selected layer color that was light blue in the previous release.>>

Please, please look at After Effects. You don't do yourselves any favors if you force a brightness level of blue highlight upon us (or any other color, but blue has generally been satisfactory). 

I know AE doesn't have to deal with as wide a range of interface brightness levels as the print apps do. But I'm able to use a custom brightness setting in AI as well, and I'm not hearing people complain. In fact, to the contrary.  I've heard text is the issue, but AI's text simply flips from white to black at 51% brightness and up, and it seems to work fine, perhaps because we can adjust the brightness level of its environment so we can still read the text without difficulty.

AE came out first a version or so back with a single, rather garish "light blue" hightlight,  and immediately fixed it with a slider, the outcry was so large. I use custom brightness in both AE and AI, and PS could have spared themselves a lot of this if they'd considered the slider approach for brightness plus a sliding highlight color. Something that makes what is active stand out a bit more without blinding us with contrast. But "blinding" is in the eye of the beholder, which is why there need to be as many options as possible.

Also, while you're at it, keep the layer labels desaturated, as you have done, and double the number. AE can offer a boatload of label colors. Surely PS can think about offering a few more to those of us who organize our layers panel with color.

[RobertTarabella]

I agree. Excellent description of what I suggested earlier. Although I wouldn't mind a light blue highlight, I'm sure many would not like it. Letting the users choose will put this issue to rest. Yes, Adobe would need to cede some control to the users, but isn't the customer ultimately right?

[mrsnak]

You guys are overthinking this whole thing, Adobe included. The interface should be simple, intuitive, and across the board. No need for futzing with colors (or even agonizing over them) when well designed monochromatic with maybe a few variations to allow for user contrast would work fine. Adobe had a fine interface for years that worked extremely well. The more options for this sort of thing is a waste of employee resources and does no one any favors.

[HerbertReininger]

@Christen, I like the idea to choose if I want to keep the older app when installing an update. Following your suggestion 4 hours ago above here I just checked my CC app and could not find the 'Advanced' button/tab to select 'DO NOT REMOVE previous apps'. Where do I find this? Thanks.

[RobertTarabella]

@kurt, one man's well designed is another's poorly designed. I suspect it is similar programming effort to create four variations (it seems like it was a sincere effort to make everybody happy) as it would to just add a few sliders for customization.

[J453]

@herbert: 

[HerbertReininger]

Awesome, thanks. I had looked at settings without actually updating anything ...

[HerbertReininger]

OOOOPS.

I was holding out updating InDesign, my go-to app over all other CC apps, for fear the interface may be mutilated like Photoshop. I just now I clicked the update button in the CC app but I did not see the dialog you're showing and it went straight into downloading the update. 

Eventually this resulted in an error and the update was aborted. Strange.

Not sure how to resolve this.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

> You guys are overthinking this whole thing, Adobe included. The interface should be simple, intuitive, and across the board. No need for futzing with colors (or even agonizing over them)>

That hasn't worked well, and it's not for aesthetic reasons. All of us respond differently to varying amounts of brightness and contrast. If we work in these apps for hours on end, as many of us do, we need the brightness and contrast to be tailored to our own visual needs. I have lived with many an aesthetically ugly interface — I used Windows for some time, after all.

Futzing, as you call it, for me has been set it once and forget about it. I don't feel any agony doing that.  '-}

[mrsnak]

My issue was more about the overthinking of the color nuances. I also work for "hours on end" (mainly between PS, AI & ID), and, at this point, just want to see some simple common sense come back into the UI for PS.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Until or unless Photoshop reverts to using OS-standard UI widgets for buttons, checkboxes, etc., I'll be staying with Photoshop 2014 for as long as I can. I'm on Mac OS - I don't need Photoshop to have a UI optimized for touch.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Just moved to the new interface.
I agree with the comments. Huge visibility pb especially with "the  background of the dropdown boxes and input fields is the same color as the background of the UI panel itself and there are no borders separating the area distinguishing what can and cannot be clicked on". 
So painful for the eyes.

[Edward Caruso Photography]

I was using CS6 side by side with CC2015.5 yesterday and the UI difference is striking. The older UI is so much more usable, especially when working quickly. I even remember complaining that CS6 had less UI contrast than CS5 at the time. Please get away from this flat UI fad and give your real users (not your marketing target group) what we need to work. Its obvious that you are really stumbling about with it.