Google Maps widely rolling out new color palette

ijeff@lemdro.idmod to Android@lemdro.id – 117 points –
Google Maps widely rolling out new color palette
9to5google.com
45

You are viewing a single comment

This shit is so much harder to read. I don't understand how this is getting approved. Even driving navigation feels like a torrential horde of vomit with all the high contrast streets sliding by.

Sure, it might make for prettier screenshots, but it's actually functionally harder to read, as the important/highlighted elements just don't stand out as much when literally everything "stands out". I feel like this has been a continued trend from Google Maps and this might be the final straw for me... I've already noticed having a harder time distinguishing turns.

I disagree. I find the stronger contrast easier to pick out while driving. I found myself squinting a lot before.

I find that the opposite. There's more contrast on everything. Previously, contrast of the path to follow made if clear where to go. Now that doesn't have as much contrast from the rest so it's harder to glance and see where to go. All of the roads stand out. But I don't care about all of the roads. I care about the ONE road I'm trying to follow and that doesn't stand our from the rest. That's all I'm trying to "pick out" while driving and now that is harder.

It feels like "overly" busy because literally every item on the screen is trying to pop out from the background. That's just noise and over attention grabbing. I don't care about the 7 streets I'm passing popping out and grabbing attention. I barely even need to know they're there, so the low contrast made sense.

I see what you're saying. I wonder if there's a way to turn off extra stuff.

Hrm, for me it's actually the opposite, although I only see the light mode while driving. But for that in particular, roads and ways are much much easier to make out.

I just strongly disagree with this. In light mode, roads are way more blaring. That makes them easier to see against the background. But makes it harder to see everything else. IE, if I drive to a 5 way intersection, it's extremely difficult to tell which road is highlighted as the path for me to take. Because everything stands out, the actual DIRECTIONS don't stand out from everything else.

I dont care about seeing roads that aren't the ones I'm taking very well. While navigating, all I care about is where I'm going and maybe like counting how many cross roads or intersections till I turn. When I'm searching for things, I don't care about roads, I care about seeing balloons. And as EVERYTHING has more contrast, the results/selections don't stand out as much and it's harder to read.

I do wonder if maybe this becomes a rural vs city sort of thing. Maybe that's not a big problem with rural driving and fewer roads? But harder when there's a bunch of roads in one place?

I don't understand how this is getting approved.

Because you get promoted for changing things, not for keeping things the same. Almost every change like this is motivated by someone trying to get promoted.