The invention relates to a method for operating an operating system in which a graphical user interface is generated and displayed. The graphical user interface comprises a first representation with afront side representation (11a) of a planar graphical object. An operating action for the graphical object is detected and a transition animation is generated and displayed. Following the transitionanimation, a second representation with a rear side representation (11b) of the graphical object is displayed, the transition animation comprising a rotation, shown in perspective, of the graphical object about an axis, and the rear side representation (11b) of the graphical object assuming a smaller area than the front side representation (11a). The second representation also comprises an information region (15), and the representation of the graphical object is made smaller during the transition animation. The invention also relates to an operating system having a control unit (2), a displaysurface (3b) and a detection unit (3a; 4).