Comment by gk1

8 years ago

It's an homage to chromatic bar codes, commonly found on product packaging and color prints: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/01/08/color_spots_o...

(... I think. I don't work for Stripe.)

14 comments

gk1

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pen2l  8 years ago

It's cool, but it's not as awesome as the average Stripe site used to be. Maybe it's because Benjamin left :(

  • fermienrico  8 years ago

    Everytime there is an article about Stripe, someone mentions how great their design is. Am I the only one who thinks that their design is basically same as any other Saas company, albeit just slightly more refined? They all look the same. Material bootstrapy designs.

    When I was an intern at a defense company, there was this old british guy that always wore a white shirt and a black tie - even in 2010. I went to lunch with him in his old Jaguar. We were discussing car designs and asked him what he thinks about Audi's new eyelash headlights - which was cool in 2010. He said "If you turn off the lights, from a distance, I can't tell if it is a Honda Accord or an Audi A4. All these sedans look the same". It made me think and appreciate Porsche 911 and other iconic designs that have veered off of the beaten path and created something original. Original, not for the sake of being different, but truly original in the full spirit of the meaning.

    Stripe, I am sorry, but doesn't live up to its design hype. Stripe's design is not original nor iconic.

    • tlrobinson  8 years ago

      > Am I the only one who thinks that their design is basically same as any other Saas company

      Stripe is almost 10 years old. If their design looks like other SaaS companies or Material or Bootstrap or whatever it's most likely because it has been imitated or at least influenced other designers.

    • tomelders  8 years ago

      I couldn't disagree more. To wheel out a tired old phrase, design isn't how something looks, it's how it works.

      The visual aesthetics of Stripe's output demonstrates great taste. But it's the way that taste complements the functionality, and how they are uncompromising about functionality and usability. I've worked on too many UI's where a detail in the design has compromised the usability, performance, or functionality of a UI all for the sake of aesthetics. I swear I might kill the next UXer that tries to argue that "responsive is out of scope" just because they can't be arsed to figure it out or change their designs to work responsively.

      A lot of products and services look like Stripe now, or at least try to, but very few work as well as Stripe's output.

      3 replies →

  • dsnuh  8 years ago

    Can you express what it is about Stripe's design that was better than Apple, et al.? I've always wondered at this as well, not that I ever thought it was subpar design, but I don't understand what made it special. I'm definitely not a UX/UI person though, so I am genuinely curious what I am missing.

analogmemory  8 years ago

Close!

> Process control patches, or printer’s color blocks, are used to check the quality or density of colors that are used on the package.

fermienrico  8 years ago

Homage for the sake of homage? Is there any use for it on the web? If not then what's the point of putting it up there?

  • egypturnash  8 years ago

    Once upon a time, 90% of the web would have failed the “is there any use for it” test, and yet people put stuff on it. Sometimes you just wanna have something to fiddle with.