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Quote by Ralph Caplan

“…no industrial designer worth his salt, or our attention, has been trained to work exclusively on any particular product, unless by accident. What he has been trained to do is practice a process called design, a process that includes esthetic choices but does not consist only of them.”

Quote by Ralph Caplan

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Ralph Caplan
Ralph Caplan

Ralph Caplan, born in 1925, is an accomplished writer whose work spans various fields, including advertising, design, and cultural commentary. Known for his unique perspective and profound insights, Caplan offers readers a distinctive viewpoint. more

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“User experience is how users feel and think when they interact with, use, and remember the solutions that meet their needs. These solutions can be hardware- or software-based. User experience depends on both the physical senses (touch, hearing, smell, taste, and vision) and the mental states (energy, efficiency, interference, completion, and emotion) of the users.”

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“There are two types of brain modes: low and high consumption. Low consumption modes are easy to remember and use less brain resources. Examples are muscle memory and conditioned reflexes. High consumption modes are hard to remember and use more brain resources. Examples are information processing, analysis, and judgment. These are two concepts that are clear in theory but vague in practice. The basic and underlying logic operations should follow the low consumption mode principle. That is why we should avoid double-side-interaction (in a normal mobile phone size).”

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“Compartmentalization is a concept that means dividing or perceiving things as different and distinct. It affects how people react to things. For mobile phones, we can use different senses to classify compartmentalization. For example, visual, auditory, tactile, psychological, single, and integrated. For instance, the lock screen interface and the home screen in unlocked mode are different visual compartments. The home screen, the negative screen, and the App library are also different visual compartments on the same level. The top swipe, bottom swipe, left swipe, and right swipe on the home screen are different operation compartments on the same level. Single-finger clicks, single-finger swipes, and single-finger long press are different interaction compartments on the same level. There is a rule for compartmentalization: 1) The fewer items it can extend to the lower layer within the same compartment, the more precise and efficient it is. 2) To keep the low brain consumption mode, the upper and lower layer operations should not be more than three.”

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“Apple has a consistent and exquisite concept of using the God curve in everything. The God curve is the curvature of the rounded corners that you can see in many places. For example, in the iPhone, you can see the God curve in the metal frame, the physical buttons, the rear bump, the camera, the receiver, the display, the Lighting connector, and even some internal components. In the software, you can see the God curve in the app icon, the dock, the search bar, the settings bar, the control center, the notification bar in notification center, the widget, and the notch (or dynamic island). The God curve is also present in other products, such as the Macbook and its software. And even in Apple's buildings and facilities, such as the Apple Park visitor center and its trash cans and seats. The God curve is a legacy of Mr. Jobs, who made sure that everything Apple does has a high level of consistency and elegance across hardware, software, product, and enterprise.”

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“Color, the principle: First, you should think about how color affects the psychology of the user. Then, you should think about the role of color in the product. Finally, you should think about the color itself. According to the theory of static and dynamic, usually colors like static world, the new colors like dynamic elements, new colors will instantly become the focus while ordinary colors will not attract too much attention. For product design, you should aim for a continuous and integrated appearance of the elements, or avoid any interruptions or breaks. This includes the colors of the front panel, frame, and rear panel. For color itself, there are different levels of colors based on how often humans see them. The highest level color is the air, which is the most seen color by humans, but humans cannot make it. The closest thing to air is glass, which can create a 3D color effect by superimposing on other colors. This is a miracle that breaks the common sense that the eye can only see 2D colors. The second level color is the sky, which is the second most seen color by humans, especially during the day. The third level color is the human body, which is the most familiar color to humans, such as skin and hair. The fourth level color is nature, which is the second most familiar color to humans. The fifth level color is artificial. Monochrome is the cornerstone, and the color combination (the same color system can reduce the sense of abruptness, the near color secondary) and the gradient aesthetics are stricter. The more the style focuses on minimalism, the more it favors monochrome.”

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“Line and shape, the best principles: Straight lines are the basic and simple form, while curves are more complex and beautiful. Curves can be inward or outward, depending on how they bend. Inward curves are more aggressive, while outward curves are more expansive. Outward curves are easier to handle than inward curves. Curve belongs to God, and is a kind of orderly cognition distilled from chaos, orderly in orderly will reflect each other, but orderly into disorderly in its will return to the basics of chaos or be weakened. Visual of a physical pure curve with a psychological straight line is the best, a curve-based straight line is the second best, a straight-based curve line is the third best, and a pure straight line is the fourth best. This is because a straight line is more harmful than a curve in a product. For example, the iPhone 14 Pro's flat frame is more uncomfortable to hold than the iPhone 15 Pro's round frame.”

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“6. Material gloss, the principle: A non-mirror surface looks the same in any environment, but a mirror surface changes with the light and the surroundings. The same material can have different visual effects by using different processes and special materials. But it is hard to change the quality of the material by using the same process on different grades of the same material. Some materials have a charm that is not only based on their features, but also on how they interact with the environment. For example, precious metals can reflect light and show a unique visual effect, even if they are very similar to other elements. The best visual effect is when some of the light is reflected and some of it shows the gloss of the material. The second best is when there is no reflection at all. The third best is when there is a mirror-like reflection that creates complex scenes that are hard to control.”

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“Consistency of the width of the four bezels, the principle: four bezels of equal width are best. The larger the difference between the maximum bezel width and the minimum bezel width, the worse the visual effect; the larger the difference between the bezel width of the adjacent border, the worse the visual effect.”

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