Title: Redefining security visualization with Hollywood UI design
Context: Don’t judge a product by its UI…pffftt! Just kidding! Totally judge everything by its UI.
Synopsis: Bells and whistles. All sizzle and no steak. Freshly painted front porch but nobody home. The euphemisms one can use to describe intellectually empty designs are endless. Even so, an attractive visage does get noticed. Especially when it exists in a crowd of (at best) plain-looking, or (more likely) downright homely competition. But if you are able to link — in a truly meaningful way — aesthetics with functionality in order to increase efficiency and efficacy…well, that’s kind of the Holy Grail right there, isn’t it? But where do you start? It’s a long hard slog fighting for better UI design uphill against a tide of legacy command line era visuals and particularly the mindset that says “Hey, it gets the job done as it is!” So why not start the other way around? Forget about reality. Ignore usability. Borrow a page (or a Hollywood special effects guru), start from ultra-slick, and work your way back towards meaningful. Hell, maybe it’s not the way it’s usually done but it can’t be any less difficult, can it? It most certainly won’t lead to any worse outcomes. After all, everyone does so love a pretty face.
Best Bit: “Most of the UI design in network security products is sorely lacking in imagination and they do not provide the level of visibility security professionals require. Honestly, a lot of the UIs are more reminiscent of the interfaces to set up a router than to detect and respond to advanced threats…”
via net-security.org
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