Cubism, pioneered by art legends Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, depicts a subject from a multitude of viewpoints. By design, the multiple vantage points that Cubism provides for the viewer allows the individual to achieve a more complete understanding of the subject. It even provides the choice to compare different perspectives by yourself or with other consumers of art and culture. This artistic feature, among other things, contributed to the style’s success as the first and most influential art movement of the 20th century.
You don’t need to be an art critic to understand that the freedom of choice to interactively engage with the subject in front of us, whether it is information or art, is a choice that modern consumers of knowledge are demanding. Indeed, research suggests that tablets and smartphones are not only a growing trend in news consumption, but also that users of mobile devices are more engaged in their consumption of information.
Currently, the democratization of technology and the choice in how we consume information not only extends to how we access the news, but also what brands and operating systems we use. Among smartphones, for example, the competition is primarily between iOS, Android, and Windows Phones. As discussed in an article released by Wired Magazine, Instagram has just been launched on Windows Phone. However, the aesthetic look and navigational layout of the popular photo-sharing application is radically different than the version of the app found on iOS or Android.
The ability to perceive the same image and interact with the same subject in ENTIRELY DIFFERENT ways through the freedom of multiple perspectives may have catapulted Picasso and Georges Braque to artistic stardom. But will these choices necessarily make interaction easier for users? Will apps launched on Windows Phones be so radically different in look and control functionality that a user of iOS would find it difficult to interact with? If Instagram is popularly perceived as “better” on Windows Phone than iOS, will Apple Inc. be at a disadvantage?
Should application have a standard aesthetic and design layout across competing platforms, mobile devices and operating systems?
