this one’s going to be pretty short, but still:
i’ve been shopping for cars lately since i have to start driving soon, and i’m genuinely convinced that design died with the 3DS for EVERYTHING.
i first considered the design of the car exteriors and then ended up at software
back in the 90s and early 2000s (and even early 2010s with nintendo’s 2/3DS), design had actual soul; and as i was talking to my dad about it, i realize that my criteria for soul (for ui; i’m not sure what determines a good car design in my mind yet) is:
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computers should not be terminals
you should be interacting with “real” things behind the screen, i.e. the 3D effect of the 3DS’ home screen. if you pay attention to the sides, you’ll notice that you’re literally looking INTO the console, and the rest of nintendo’s UI acts like that as well -
the ui of the device alone should bring joy
i dont think anyone can say this about any device around today, ESPECIALLY not nintendo’s more recent devices. the switch UI is geniunely one of my least favorite UIs of anything ever; the huge game covers force you to scroll a billion light-years just to get to the 5th game on the list, with a whopping TWO choice of background colors: white and (get this) black.
i honestly can only name one modern UI that fits these two criteria, and the title belongs to haikuOS, a continuation of BeOS (a 90s operating system). it’s unique window management genuinely allows windows to interact and for apps to live on the desktop as ‘applets’.
even back to the 3DS; notice how the game graphic is floating just in front of the screen, while the background sits far behind the screen. you’re literally looking into the console’s universe. even the existence of miis lend to the 3DS UI being its own little world.
photo is from rodrigo copetti’s blog post about the details of the 3DS’ hardware and software.