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Jony Ive Pushing for 'Flat Design' in iOS 7 Amid Greater Hardware-Software Design Collaboration

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Last October, Tim Cook tasked Jony Ive with leadership of the company's Human Interface teams in addition to his role as head of Industrial Design.

This suggested that the company's hardware and software user interfaces could become more complementary with one executive in charge of everything that users see and touch.

The Wall Street Journal reports that this is indeed the case, with mobile software teams being briefed about new hardware prototypes earlier in the design cycle. Additionally, Ive is now sitting in on the human interface team's review sessions to examine new designs.
Some suggested that in Apple's next mobile operating system, Ive is pushing a more "flat design" that is starker and simpler, according to developers who have spoken to Apple employees but didn't have further details. Overall, they expect any changes to be pretty conservative. For the past few years, Apple has unveiled versions of its mobile operating system in the summer.

Design is one example of the increased "collaboration across hardware, software and services" that Apple said it was aiming for when Cook pushed senior vice president and mobile software chief Scott Forstall out of the company last year.
Click to expand...
In addition to Ive's command of the physical and software interface teams, Craig Federighi is looking at combining some Mac and iOS software teams when there is particular overlap, such as the calendar teams, while keeping the majority of the Mac and iOS engineering teams separate, the paper reports.

Article Link: Jony Ive Pushing for 'Flat Design' in iOS 7 Amid Greater Hardware-Software Design Collaboration
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/03/21/jony-ive-pushing-for-flat-design-in-ios-7-amid-greater-hardware-software-design-collaboration/
phillipduran

phillipduran

macrumors 65816
Apr 30, 2008
1,055
607
Please just make sure the desktop environment works for the desktop environment and the mobile for the mobile.

Don't go the Windows 8 route and shove a touch tablet interface onto the desktop users.
 
B

barkomatic

macrumors 601
Aug 8, 2008
4,521
2,826
Manhattan
A simpler, flat design? I can't imagine iOS getting even more simple to use. If anything, I was hoping for more customization. Well, Ive has done good work in the past so maybe this will work out.
 
Yvan256

Yvan256

macrumors 603
Jul 5, 2004
5,081
998
Canada
I went from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion.

I almost fell from my chair when I opened Contacts. Please fix it for 10.8.4!
 
bb426

bb426

macrumors 6502
Jun 7, 2011
421
131
California
I don't care about what the next iPhone itself brings in it. iOS 7 is going to be the best update in a long time.

Jony Ive saves us again :cool:
 
naeS1Sean

naeS1Sean

macrumors 6502a
Oct 14, 2011
762
1,230
Scranton, PA
Jesus. Complain complain complain. Why do you people even buy Apple products? He is incredible, and he's going to do a fantastic job with this. Just like he does with hardware. Faith people!
 
N

newagemac

macrumors 68020
Mar 31, 2010
2,091
23
Well it's already started. I liked the reel to reel animation in Podcasts but yeah it kind of got in the way reelly. :p

The update to the Podcasts app from today completely removed it. I don't mind if removing skeumorphism results in more development time spent on functionality and usability. Those who don't like skeumorphism at all are going to like the new Podcasts app regardless.
 
R

roow110

macrumors regular
Jul 1, 2011
110
26
I hope they don't go too flat... while it is aesthetically pleasing and very minimal, it is a trend. Apple could appear to just be following the look of Windows Phone. There is a reason for some degree of skeumorphism in interface design. Windows phone is too flat, and there is not enough differentiation between elements creating a confusing interface (for instence, buttons are no different than text, confusing content with hyperlinks.) While Apple has pushed skeumorphism too far, Microsoft has pushed flat too far. Hopefully Ive is able to find the right balance and doesn't follow the trend on completely flat interfaces.
 
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clukas

clukas

macrumors 6502a
May 3, 2010
990
401
komodrone said:
Image
inb4 microsoft sues.
Click to expand...

Looks quite compelling to me, especially if those were live tiles.

Cant wait to see what Ive does with iOS7 and 10.9. Well probably only see subtle changes, but it will give us a good idea of things to come.
 
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