We were working with a potential client a few weeks ago, trying to figure out if we could help them improve some seismic processing software. The software had excellent science under the covers, but the visual interface was old and tired. Could Palladium help rejuvenate their user experience? Old looking software can imply old or out of date capabilities. Could we make it, well, better?

A design pattern, as we explained in our January 2015 blog post, is “a good, reusable solution for a common but specific interaction design problem.” In this online seminar, Lynn Pausic and I present design problems that are often seen in applications and sites with large or complex data sets. We also give 10 examples of patterns that can be used to solve those problems–things like how to set up a complex data table to view status at a glance, or when to employ column filtering so users see only what they choose to see.

Is Google’s Material Design for complex software? My first reaction after reading through these new Google guidelines was: no.