Design Needs More Brutalism

I was trying to use the mobile Google Authenticator app today and I couldn’t read the entire name of the last code I have installed because of the stupid floating "+" button.

The reality is, I sort of know which codes I have installed so I knew which one it was but it struck me: someone thought it was a good design system to have something that obscures the data the user is trying to look at. The Gmail app is another offender, here. The button to create a new email is floating over the list of email’s I’m looking at and obscuring the subject line. I have to scroll my email list in order to read it.

Again, it’s not a huge issue because the chances of me looking at the last email in my list is near-zero because there is so much email. But why would you choose to have your UI philosophy based around keeping the user from seeing the information they are trying to consume?

This is one of those things that maybe it looks cool when you’re presenting screenshots in a meeting. "Oh that neat button there" and it probably gets interesting sounding name like the "Action Button" or whatever. But if you use the app for five minutes you realize it’s stupid. It’s preventing you from doing the thing you want to do.

I was on the website of whatever one of the latest AI SaaS is out there and they added a little floating dot that follows my mouse around for some reason. It served zero purpose. It was just distracting. But at least it was just distracting and didn’t actively hinder me from accomplishing my task. But what was the point beyond using a few extra CPU cycles?

I think design could use a fresh injection of Brutalism. Stop making things cute just because it looks neat. Make the design useful, first, and then maybe, MAYBE, add some fluff to it. But, whatever you do, don’t make your design philosophy actively hostile to the user like Material Design.