I think metro is very minimal and very clean. But it's also... cold. A bit too austere. The goal for an interface isn't to impress--it's to connect. Somehow, I've never felt a sense of connection with the Metro interfaces. It feels like design borrowed from the annual report of a faceless international corporation. All design; no personality. I like simple and clean. And I like minimalism. But I also think you have to be careful with it or you'll end up with something soulless. That, I think, is what has always subtly bothered me about Metro.
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Metro is actually meant to be "soulless" by design. It's supposed to be distinctly digital. The idea is that your "connections" come from your actual social web, not from rendered wood textured bookshelves. At least, that's the idea.
As compared to what? A traditional desktop like interface with application icons scattered over the background?
As in... iOS?
One would think that the live tiles with continuously updated information show more "connection" with the user.
From a purely aesthetic point of view, I kind of feel the same as toddmorey. I find it too cold, too precise, too machine-like. It's like looking at a 3D rendition of a face versus an actual picture. A little bit of roundness here and there, subtle transparency, or at least shades of color could help.
Amen. This is probably coming from people who think that a computer which basically resembles a thin slab of aluminum is not too "cold". It's basically minimalist which is what Apple strives for these days and does a good job with. The really interesting design choices in Metro (to me) will be apps with a lot of text ala Outlook.
That is why Apple is using fake wood backgrounds all over the place? I think they are very cheesy - prefer a "cold" interface, like a command line. Then again, maybe it would cheer me up to configure my shell to use Comic Sans...
It is beyond me how Apple, most of the time, designs minimalist products and interfaces, and suddenly comes cup with really kitsch stuff (iCal, Address Book, Photobooth in fullscreen mode, Time Machine). It's like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Because it’s different people doing it.
I have long had the theory that the people at the top who could have done something against that (notably Steve Jobs) simply don’t care about that discrepancy, that’s why it can continue.
Indeed, it's essentially a live dashboard with a built-in program launcher. It shouldn't be the thing you connect to.
It's just a browsable report of the status of things you care about, with the UI more trying to get out of the way, and provide options, than be a "thing" in your world by itself.
On that note, It probably should (and perhaps will) become more subtle over time. I'd prefer it taking the same approach as classic mac os: stay in black & white so that the user's real data is in color. They won't do that, of course, but a subdued palette could really help. Of course, then the individual widgets need to really bring home their content's presentation.
Metro can have a lot of personality.
Eg.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qghf4e2n0Yc&hd=1
http://immersivenick.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/hohm-window...
http://www.mobileguerilla.com/images/windows-phone-7-xbox.jp...
http://www.mobileguerilla.com/images/windows-phone-7-office....
http://www.mobileguerilla.com/images/windows-phone-7-zune.jp...
Can you really say that the app above has no personality?
In-depth Metro analysis from a designer if you're interested:
Hotlinking means bandwidth theft, bru.
To be fair, that's probably there mostly to prevent other sites from embedding those images rather than to prevent linking from forum posts.