Ello is another new attempt at creating an alternative social network to The Big Ones with its privacy, harassment and data-mining concerns. Following in the footsteps of previous efforts like Diaspora and AppDotNet. Unfortunately, much like its predecessors it manages to fail in spectacular manner.

Design is not just how it looks

the first thing you see when you log in after receiving an invite

Its design is awful. This initial screen is emblematic of Ello’s problems. It is taking modern, fashionable design trends and applying it to a web application without any thought as to how it impacts usability and readability.

Gestalt

Note the excessive amounts of negative space. Now, negative space is a very useful tool to make a clean and readable design. However, it should be in service of separating and grouping different elements. This is only barely happening here.

Different shapes are also used randomly. Both square and round elements clash, but are also not grouped together giving a very cluttered and chaotic impression.

Fonts

Sans-serif and monospaced fonts are used inconsistently. Not only is it better to only stick to one type of font, the context in which either is used also changes on the page. Sometimes monospaced fonts means a post, sometimes it means a UI element.

When it comes to the big introductory post, it is all set in a bold font (bad choice for a large body of text) and links are only distinguished by underlining and all caps. This give the impression of a typed manuscript, which is a cool stylistic choice but does not make for a useable web application.

Color

A monochromatic color palette is being used, which is fine. If not for the fact that the only splash of color is used for a divider of no clear purpose. When your entire page is black & white any color is going to stand out. So a big vertical line in the middle of your page does nothing but distract.

The chosen blue also does not complement the b&w well.

Affordances

A big UX term is “affordance.” And this is another place where Ello fails because it is going for style over functionality.