Getting rid of visual clutter
Presentation Zen offers, once again, an excellent piece of advice: when designing - well, basically anything - we should clean up the visual clutter.
“[I]f you want people to understand [you] better, then get that stuff off the screen…Clean it up and get it off because it is simply making it more difficult for people to understand what [you are] saying.”
I think this applies also to the visual design of S60 apps and themes.
Let’s compare the two approaches.
As an example of the one extreme, Darla has nicely consolidated the Nokia 3250 themes:
Taken to the other extreme, take a look at the the white theme from E60 blog or the one from igBase:
Now, let’s vote 
Bonus links:
How to save memory, run faster and gain a clearer screen…. in 10 seconds!
Microsoft Re-Designs the Ipod Packaging
I think its a “mood” factor. Sometimes I’m in the mood for simplicity and sometimes I like chaos!! Having the bells and whistles kind of expresses the user as well as the phone.
Then again its hard for me to do anything in a Zen like state with 3 kids screaming at ya all the time
This might be another interesting post from Presentation Zen, http://presentationzen.blogs.com/presentationzen/2005/11/the_zen_estheti.html
It shows how is the difference between Steve Job’s and Bill Gates’ presentation.
Thanks for voting. I just forwarded the link to this page to the head of the team behind Nokia S60 default themes.
Antony, it was just that Steve Jobs’ and Bill Gates’ presentation style post that attracted me as Presentation Zen subscriber… Excellent piece.
Hey Tommi,
Ask someone from the team behind the S60 default themes to make a pink one
Frankly I did the igBase theme to save RAM, it takes about 1MB less RAM than the default ‘Nokia’ theme or other graphics heavy themes. Also black text on white is the most readable in bright sunshine. So it’s mainly usability, not just Zen :o)
Your screenshots aren’t very fair, the last one is bigger so that makes it look even more clearer!
Sorry Paul. Because I didn’t have screenshots from Nokia 3250 themes, I took the screenshots from Darla’s page. And I had to squeeze the image to fit the page. Not fair, I admit.
Is there a copy of the igbase theme floating about anywhere? I can’t find it any more. Please post a URL!
Could also add a thin coloured border to the on screen text, like used for movie subtitles. Those seems readable enough even in vivid colours.