In 2020, Google changed the icons for their most popular apps from the ones in the top row to the ones in the bottom. Some confusion ensued. They had become too consistent—to the point of sometimes becoming almost indistinguishable from one another.
My latest article for UX Collective, “The Tyranny of Consistency” has been shared widely within the design community. In it, I argue that consistency is helpful as a tool for designing user-friendly experiences—until it isn’t. I discuss how to consider when breaking from ostensible consistency can actually improve user experiences and provide a few examples of how such variations work in practice.
Update: Thanks to UX Magazine for reprinting my piece, as well.