5.1. The Power of Standard Visuals

Familiarity and consistency lend designs authority. That's why road signs around the world are standardized. Drivers hurtling down the freeway shouldn't have to do double takes to figure out what a sign means. When instant and effortless communication is critical, conventions are a designer's best friend. Buttons, icons, and toolbars are the road signs for your app, and iPhone screens that use standard controls have a no-nonsense seriousness that lends them a similar authority and don't-make-me-think understanding.

But eesh, that's a lot of blue and white, and the gray orthodoxy of so many pinstripe backgrounds is enough to nudge anyone into an interface coma. Different isn't always better, but neither is heedless homogeneity. There's room to take some license with your interface design as long as you do it thoughtfully and keep the interface intuitively second nature. Even standard controls can be dressed up to give your app its own unique visual stamp, for example, a trick Apple itself deploys in some of its own apps.