Photoshop CC 2015.1: New user interface lacks contrast and many usability cues, lots of other problems

Hi everyone,

Adobe has released Photoshop CC 2017 today. This update contains the following 4 specific updates from this thread:

1) A new user preference to change the highlight color from grey to blue 
2) Increased contrasts of the lightest 3 color stops
3) Edit controls and popup/edit controls now have frames instead of underlines
4) The character panel is cleaner, divider lines removed for easier visibility

Thanks,
Jeff

I don't see how this is a problem when there are actual problems with the basic functionality of the program.

changing the appearance of the interface isn't the same as taking out features.

did you complain about the sky falling when they added the darker interface too?

Like thousands of other customers, I complained about the change to the Lightroom import interface. I'd like to think that had some impact because Adobe removed it!

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled What happened to the Photoshop GUI in 2015.1 ?.

I like improvements but I don’t think this look good at all.

Was there a very good reason for changing it? Was the most important thing to make it more user-friendly and clear?

I work many hours in PS almost every day so it’s a very important tool and I guess for many others who use it in their work. A clear user interface and a legible typeface is very essential, at least for me.

Many of the icons don’t look clear enough (tools icons, the ”eye” in layers to mention some). The icons have a lot of different line widths, I think this makes the GUI messy.

The typeface looks similar to Apple’s San Francisco. I guess the reason is to look familiar, it’s a good thought, but I don’t think it works very good in PS. In my opinion the font is too wide and a bit thin. It’s also odd that the ”old” typeface remains in some places, the ”headlines” of Window items (3D, Actions, Adjustments... etc).

The type ”OK, Cancel, Prev, Next” in Preferences are not even centered in the ”buttons”. And why are the line around ”OK” only a tiny bit thicker than the others, almost not visible?

For me it’s difficult to read white type on dark gray or black so I have been using the light gray color theme. But now everything just looks flat (too narrow value between gray tones) and it’s very hard to get a simple and clear overview of all settings, percent of opacity etc, etc. There is no ”separation” between the content.

I hope there is still some work to do, to make this better.

–

Dear Adobe team

I usually give a new software GUI (or update) a weeks worth of use before giving it the thumbs up or down.
After about eight hours in Photoshop and Illustrator I feel pretty confident in describing the 2015.1 GUI changes as a bizarre gaffe.

This is not ment as a snide comment, but was this new GUI actually tested on any substantial UX test group? And if so, did any of them have less than perfect eye sight?
Patriks comments above pretty much sum up the new GUI's usability issues.

Please bring back the previous GUI ASAP.

Yours sincerely etc ...

This new flat GUI simply doesn't work :(

Please bring back the previous GUI ASAP.

This is just awful, I'm only able to move about due to muscle memory of where stuff is. This UI is like flying blind. I feel really bad for any newbies just learning with this as their first experience. I'd be lost if I had to start on this version. There's no more affordance around anything to infer it's purpose (is it a text field that I type in or a button I click on?). If I didn't know to expect where the magic wand tool was, I'd have no idea what that new icon is.

It feels like an old man trying to be hip. "Oh you kids these days, you like that flat design, eh? Yeah I can do that, look, I'm hip, I'm cool".



You're not fooling anyone, either change it back to the status quo or change it to something that is an actual improvement. All I ask is for the same or better. If you can't do better than what you took 3 decades to craft, then don't change it. It really was good. This is objectively bad. The rounded corner buttons are ugly, but at least I know they're buttons. Most of the program feels unusable. And it doesn't even feel like a program anymore, it feels like an App. Which by their very nature are not powerful.

We really need an option to allow a return to the 'classic' UI. Such a major change for those of us who've been using PS for decades is too jarring. I've just retired from commercial photography and am questioning my need for Photoshop. Such a significant change only serves to help in my decision making process.

For those of us who have, for decades, been using Photoshop, the new UI is too jarring.

We really need an option to choose a 'Classic' UI.

I've recently retired from commercial photography and am trying to decide whether I need Photoshop. This change is helping my decision making process.

Adobe folks,

Please be kind to us all working guys and bring back the old interface. Or at least give us a choice. That way you will be able to get rid of the new one in a year or two without losing face, and without anybody shedding crocodile tears over its demise.

New interface is really ugly, very close to unusable. What is happening to dev. team recently? After that Lightroom Import fiasco, they keep on making the same mistakes. People actually pay Adobe, why behave so outrageous?

I especially agree with: "There is no ”separation” between the content."

Take the Character Window for example.
Why is the background of the entry(/Drop down) boxes grey?
The dropdown box for the language and antialiasing are much clearer to me.

A flat UI is not necessarily a good thing...

Fully agree...the new interface is DISGUSTING. Send the designer(s) back to school.

I fully agree. More hipster-flat-design-stuff - less usebilty. More Marketing - less customer needs. What ever it is good for - not for us, the designers. But we have to pay for it - every month. That is modern business. Thanks.