Stupid me. i saw the software update available for Evernote, and just jumped straight in to upgrade. I never took a moment to go online and check out v6 and what users were saying. My bad for not taking a look at online pics of the UI before jumping in, with excitement, with both feet. Never before have I been this gutted with a software upgrade; never before have I actually been upset by the appearance of software. Never before have I had to tinker with the monitor brightness and contrast just to look at a page for more than a few minutes.
Did I mention drab?
So, I am staring at my precious Evernote screen, and all I see staring back at me is drab - washed out- disappointing, grey. Gone is the Evernote brand, gone is the feeling of quality software, gone is the pleasure of working on a beautiful screen. All I am left with is a sense of loss, an indigence and confusion. Why would the Evernote team want to take a pin and pop the Evernote balloon? Did someone on the design team have a brainwave moment, and say "Let's make our software stand out from the crowd - let's make it grey, grey, grey".
Evernote is synonymous with awesomeness. It's not just a note-taking app, it has grown to become my digital brain, the repository for my brainwaves and keeper of my life-moments. It's my project manager, event organiser, meeting planner, personal reminder, and brainstorming tool. (Yes, Evernote is brilliant for single-person brainstorming!) It is my digital life companion. It's on my desk, in my workbag, and in my pocket. My digital brain is only ever a screen-swipe away.
So, why have you taken something so amazing, with such a high-quality end user experience, and turned it into something so limp, washed out, flat and featureless with a greyscale UI, that is actually sore on the eyes after about 5 minutes? The Evernote brand identity is missing. Or, have I missed something? Am I going to click on a notebook and suddenly, the elephant will trumpet in glee and pop out onto the page?
Let's just take a look at the Evernote notebook screen (fumbles for sunglasses). I am seeing grey notebooks on a grey background, with feeble grey shadows. Maybe 3 shades of grey in use, with black font. Not a hint of green in sight. The only colour I see is blue, one word in blue telling me I am on the Notebooks page. There is plenty of scope on this page to use Evernote green and give it some character, and perhaps just a tiny bit of depth. Then, there's the side bar. It's the SAME shade of grey as everything else - talk about deliberately making it washed out! I can see the faintest of grey (no surprise there) line separators.
I am looking at the notes list now, in 'side list view' The WHOLE page is just one shade of plain, pale, feeble grey. Every other line is washed out white, and the note page is washed out white. Grey is not a colour - grey is an absence of colour. it is a nothingness, a there - but not quite there feeling. It's bland, bare, bald and boring.
Every time I look back Evernote again, I hate it just a little bit more. Why, oh why do software designers have to keep jumping off the same plank as those before them? Why did everyone in the Evernote design team feel it was necessary to copy others who have stripped schematics and colour from their software? I am sitting here, typing in Safari, with its grey header and grey tabs (at least the sidebar is a much darker grey). I am looking at Mac Mail, with it's grey header, and grey sidebar and washed out UI, then I look back at Evernote and all I see is grey, grey, grey. It's horrid. I can't quite call it ugly though, - at least ugly has features that stand out. Evernote is now devoid of features, nothing stands out. Everything is just pale, feeble, and sore on my eyes. There isn't sufficient contrast between the feeble greys, making it very unpleasant to look at.
Guys, guys - what have you done? I thought you were leaders of the pack, not followers. This 'thing' - this impostor - it's not Evernote, it's horrid. It's beauty has been stolen and what's left is just bland, bare, bald and boring.
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Purpleboots 10
Stupid me. i saw the software update available for Evernote, and just jumped straight in to upgrade. I never took a moment to go online and check out v6 and what users were saying. My bad for not taking a look at online pics of the UI before jumping in, with excitement, with both feet. Never before have I been this gutted with a software upgrade; never before have I actually been upset by the appearance of software. Never before have I had to tinker with the monitor brightness and contrast just to look at a page for more than a few minutes.
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