What's a catchy name for “overly complex, barely designed interface”? [closed]

Question

I think the title says it all. "Cockpit-like" is what I've come up with, but I'm looking for better ideas.

I like the term 'craptastic'. That or 'designed by offshore outsourcing'
Being a pilot, most cockpits are laid out exactly like you want them to be... Problem is, you have to know how to use it before you even stand a chance at learning how to use it. Same with poorly desgned interfaces. Documentation on these is usually inversely proportional to how easy to understand: More difficult = less documentation. I have bar a verrrry long margin, seen these type of intefaces come out of Offshore outsourcing projects, so i'll go with that...

Tucker · Answer 1 · 2010-10-21 17:25:04Z

up vote 9 down vote

Being a "Rube Goldberg" device is commonly used to identify complex, but mostly useless things.

And cockpits are getting better...

answered edited Oct 21 '10 at 17:25

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Tucker

	What I'm talking about isn't uselessness, just complexity. (Usually of the undesigned or poorly designed variety, though I'm sure in the case of actual cockpits, there's a ton of design in them. And I'm sure they are getting better, but they still have that reputation....) – sprugman Oct 21 '10 at 17:28
	Rube Goldberg machines mostly did do something useful, just in a very complicated way - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg_machine . See also "Heath Robinson" for our non-US friends. – DJClayworth Oct 25 '10 at 19:43
	I guess that Rube Goldberg machines require careful designs. Therefore, I do not think that it is a good name for something which lacks designing. – Tsuyoshi Ito Nov 3 '10 at 21:12

Michael Zuschlag · Answer 2 · 2010-10-21 18:01:40Z

up vote 4 down vote

How about:

A Bureaucracy
A Boston (with streets running in ad hoc directions, it’s one of the hardest cities in the US to navigate).
A CASTLE
A Mortgage Derivative

answered edited Oct 21 '10 at 18:01

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Michael Zuschlag

2

Ha! I like 'a boston' – DA01 Oct 21 '10 at 20:28

onnodb · Answer 3 · 2010-10-21 18:38:39Z

up vote 4 down vote

Kluge (or kludge)?

answered edited Oct 21 '10 at 18:38

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onnodb

gef05 · Answer 4 · 2010-10-21 18:48:18Z

up vote 5 down vote

I've heard the phrase "What a 1040" used before.

(FYI non-US folks: Form 1040 = US tax return.)

answered edited Oct 21 '10 at 18:48

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gef05

Hisham · Answer 5 · 2010-10-21 19:26:17Z

up vote 0 down vote

How about a spaghetti UI? "spaghetti code" is already common in programming.

answered edited Oct 21 '10 at 19:26

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Hisham

Bevan · Answer 6 · 2010-10-21 19:54:27Z

Part of the problem you'll run into is finding a term that has a wide enough distribution - many terms like this are specific to a particular culture or geography.

That said, here are my suggestions.

A hodge-podge user iterface
A dogs breakfast user interface
A user interface only a mother could love

Interested to see other peoples ideas.

DA01 · Answer 7 · 2010-10-21 20:27:43Z

up vote 5 down vote

"Lotus Notesesque"

answered edited Oct 21 '10 at 20:27

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DA01

1

Or how about simply "Notesque"? Rhymes with "grotesque." – Michael Zuschlag Oct 22 '10 at 20:49

But the program is called "Lotus Notes", not "Lotus Note". – Lèse majesté Oct 24 '10 at 5:33

2

Clearly, it should be Lotesque ;) – Asmor Nov 1 '10 at 18:58

Patrick McElhaney · Answer 8 · 2010-10-21 21:18:42Z

up vote 7 down vote

Dancing bearware

Paraphrasing Alan Cooper: The remarkable thing about a dancing bear is not how well it dances -- it's actually terrible -- but that it dances at all.

answered edited Oct 21 '10 at 21:18

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Patrick McElhaney

Vidbot · Answer 9 · 2010-10-22 03:42:34Z

up vote 11 down vote

"This looks like it was designed by engineers."

answered edited Oct 22 '10 at 3:42

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Vidbot

4

I take offense to that. Engineers are more than capable of designing good interfaces. In fact, I would say that graphic designers are MUCH worse at designing a USABLE interface. – Charles Boyung Oct 22 '10 at 16:41

7

The problem is that most engineers design with implementation details in mind and focus on possibilities. That makes great interfaces when your users are engineers, too. Of course there are exceptions. – peterchen Oct 22 '10 at 21:15

2

Read The Inmates are Running the Asylum. +1 – Glen Lipka Oct 23 '10 at 15:11

2

I'm with Charles. Poor design is poor design... and I've seen an awful lot of bad design by people who call themselves "designers" - and some rather good design by folk who call themselves "engineers". I find broad characterisations of one group by another harmful. – adrianh Oct 23 '10 at 17:43

3

That's not a broad characterization of one group. That's just a statement of reality--good design takes practice, experience, and specific training. That doesn't mean you can't be both an engineer and a designer, but someone who is just an engineer is unlikely to produce good UI designs, just as a designer isn't likely to produce good engineering. I mean, would you hire a plumber to perform heart surgery? – Lèse majesté Oct 24 '10 at 5:44

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Remou · Answer 10 · 2010-10-22 09:31:37Z

up vote 2 down vote

A long time ago, a Micky Mouse watch was one that quickly fell apart, hence Micky Mouse this and that, so how about Micky Mouse interface?

answered edited Oct 22 '10 at 9:31

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Remou

Vilx- · Answer 11 · 2010-10-22 11:55:46Z

up vote -1 down vote

Call it a "Death Star". Remember what all the control devices aboard that looked?

answered edited Oct 22 '10 at 11:55

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Vilx-

Vilx- · Answer 12 · 2010-10-22 14:05:50Z

up vote -1 down vote

Entropy.

Because it would make a good seed for a pseudo-random number generator.

answered edited Oct 22 '10 at 14:05

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Vilx-

Bryan · Answer 13 · 2010-10-22 15:50:49Z

up vote 0 down vote

Kitchen Sink Beta

answered edited Oct 22 '10 at 15:50

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Bryan

Vilx- · Answer 14 · 2010-10-22 17:17:03Z

up vote 0 down vote

Scrapyard. 'nuff said.

answered edited Oct 22 '10 at 17:17

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Vilx-

adrianh · Answer 15 · 2010-10-23 13:50:50Z

Cluttered?

Or point them to this lovely cartoon :-)

http://stuffthathappens.com/blog/2008/03/05/simplicity/ alt text

I'd say "Cockpit-like" is a poor analogy since while the interface is complex they are highly designed. The complexity is needed - there's just a lot of information that needs to be easily accessible.

Nick Desjardins · Answer 16 · 2010-10-23 17:12:24Z

up vote 2 down vote

A dog's breakfast

answered edited Oct 23 '10 at 17:12

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Nick Desjardins

Indolering · Answer 17 · 2010-10-24 04:58:40Z

up vote -6 down vote

Microsoftesque?

answered edited Oct 24 '10 at 4:58

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Indolering

What, is this not catchy enough? – Indolering Aug 8 '11 at 21:31

David HAust · Answer 18 · 2010-10-28 02:33:48Z

up vote 0 down vote

Developer UI

Coined by Joseph Cooney

Expaned on by Jeff Atwood

answered edited Oct 28 '10 at 2:33

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David HAust

milesmeow · Answer 19 · 2010-10-28 04:19:34Z

up vote 0 down vote

How about?

Clutter-ware
SNAFUI - Situation Normal All F'ed Up Interface
Anti-Designed Interface
Anti UI (pronounced ant-eye-you-eye) :)

answered edited Oct 28 '10 at 4:19

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milesmeow

ArchieVersace · Answer 20 · 2010-10-28 07:11:36Z

up vote 3 down vote

BUI - Bad user interface

answered edited Oct 28 '10 at 7:11

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ArchieVersace

Dave · Answer 21 · 2010-11-03 15:58:50Z

up vote 1 down vote

JIRA

pretty catchy, I think

answered edited Nov 3 '10 at 15:58

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Dave

LiamGu · Answer 22 · 2010-11-05 15:04:51Z

up vote 5 down vote

Our particular favourite term to use in our office is "Facerolled."

As in, "When they designed that, they must have just rolled their face across their keyboard and hoped for the best."

answered edited Nov 5 '10 at 15:04

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LiamGu

mbillard · Answer 23 · 2010-11-05 20:33:50Z

up vote 2 down vote

I like the term angry fruit salad even though it's usually about the overuse of colors.

answered edited Nov 5 '10 at 20:33

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mbillard

peterchen · Answer 24 · 2010-11-10 10:43:43Z

up vote -2 down vote

Blinkenlights UI

answered edited Nov 10 '10 at 10:43

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peterchen

Ben Straub · Answer 25 · 2011-11-17 17:37:53Z

up vote 0 down vote

Too bad "The Matrix" is a great movie: Classic WTF - Enter The Matrix

enter image description here

answered edited Nov 17 '11 at 17:37

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Ben Straub

PhillipW · Answer 26 · 2011-11-17 21:06:56Z

up vote 0 down vote

The classic comparison used to be the Space Shuttle's UI.

Just be careful which buttons you press on re-entry...

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/images/content/70412main_KSC-99PP-0412.JPG

answered edited Nov 17 '11 at 21:06

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PhillipW

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What's a catchy name for “overly complex, barely designed interface”? [closed]

closed as not constructive by Ben Brocka♦ Apr 14 '12 at 22:26

26 Answers

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What's a catchy name for “overly complex, barely designed interface”? [closed]

closed as not constructive by Ben Brocka♦ Apr 14 '12 at 22:26

26 Answers

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged anti-patterns or ask your own question.

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