Why did Apple remove design from iOS 7?

darkgoob · Jul 5, 2013

I am curious. Why was design removed from iOS 7?

I'm a fan of design and all its elements like style, look, texture, color, tone, etc.

I notice almost all of the design is now gone in iOS 7, in favor of a plain, non-designed lack-of-a-look. Can't Apple afford designers?

I'm somewhat surprised they would remove design like this, since traditionally, their products are designed. In fact design is usually what they're known for.

I feel like the little boy who once noted in Hans Christian Andersen's "The Emperor's New Clothes," that hey, THE DUDE'S NAKED!

Apple just went with no design at all, the plainest possible font, white everywhere the design used to be.

The only examples of actual design I've seen in iOS 7 are those icons made by the interns in marketing, using Adobe Illustrator 1.0 on a Mac IIsi. I had to check and make sure that iOS 7 wasn't announced on April 1, 1991.

My question to you is: how good is Scott gonna look during the #%*storm that will follow the release of iOS 7? I give Tim three weeks max if this gets released looking anything like this. But hopefully he does the smart thing, and hires a few professional graphic designers to make it NOT look like hotmail.com.

maricc · Jul 5, 2013

You said "design" so many times that I no longer know what it means.

nikicampos · Jul 5, 2013

You can't remove design.

You can change design.

A flatter and minimalist design is even harder to achieve and Apple did pull it off.

darkgoob · Jul 5, 2013

nikicampos said:
You can't remove design.

You can change design.

A flatter and minimalist design is even harder to achieve and Apple did pull it off.

THE DUDE'S NAKED!

And you're wrong. Minimalism is about reduction to essentials. This went way beyond that, this went to reduction to lack of design.

Flat is ironic since Apple's design goal for iOS 7 is "depth!" Fail... Hard!!

Dude it looks AWFUL and everyone is fooling themselves, drinking the koolaid as usual. You have to be tripping on acid to look at iOS 7 and think, "design."

It honestly looks like an early pre-production system before any of the UI has even been designed yet. Like a webpage with no CSS.

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maricc said:
You said "design" so many times that I no longer know what it means.

Evidently you're not alone.

mactumors · Jul 5, 2013

1. The design in in the animation, physics, and transitions.

2. Hotmail.com looks damn good these days.

josiahsill · Jul 5, 2013

darkgoob said:
I am curious. Why was design removed from iOS 7?

I'm a fan of design and all its elements like style, look, texture, color, tone, etc.

I notice almost all of the design is now gone in iOS 7, in favor of a plain, non-designed lack-of-a-look. Can't Apple afford designers?

I'm somewhat surprised they would remove design like this, since traditionally, their products are designed. In fact design is usually what they're known for.

I feel like the little boy who once noted in Hans Christian Andersen's "The Emperor's New Clothes," that hey, THE DUDE'S NAKED!

Apple just went with no design at all, the plainest possible font, white everywhere the design used to be.

The only examples of actual design I've seen in iOS 7 are those icons made by the interns in marketing, using Adobe Illustrator 1.0 on a Mac IIsi. I had to check and make sure that iOS 7 wasn't announced on April 1, 1991.

My question to you is: how good is Scott gonna look during the #%*storm that will follow the release of iOS 7? I give Tim three weeks max if this gets released looking anything like this. But hopefully he does the smart thing, and hires a few professional graphic designers to make it NOT look like hotmail.com.

I can't remember where I read it, but I read an article describing a lot of the problem designers have with ios 7...Not the look of it but the fact they didn't get to design it.

darkgoob · Jul 5, 2013

mactumors said:
1. The design in in the animation, physics, and transitions.

2. Hotmail.com looks damn good these days.

Hotmail looks plain and lame. Why do all of you people love blinding whitespace and nearly flourescent colors? Did Microsoft manage to infiltrate Apple and fill these forums with hype plants? I know it's cloudy in Redmond but most other places we get our bright light from a thing called "the sun," and don't prefer our phones to emit 100% white everywhere possible.

And the "animation, physics, and transitions" are decent, except parallax which needs a lot of work, and things that don't respond to touches and swipes while they're moving (but I know it's a beta and yes I have reported these bugs to Apple).

But no matter how much a naked man may dance or gesticulate... He is still naked.

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josiahsill said:
I can't remember where I read it, but I read an article describing a lot of the problem designers have with ios 7...Not the look of it but the fact they didn't get to design it.

Nobody got to design it. It's not designed, yet.

I'm still hoping that just like Microsoft reversed their idiotic decision on DRM for XBOX One games, someone at Apple will come to their senses and design iOS 7 before it gets released.

If you actually aren't worried about this, then it's because you're not a stockholder, or you bought short.

falconeight · Jul 5, 2013

darkgoob said:
Hotmail looks plain and lame. Why do all of you people love blinding whitespace and nearly flourescent colors? Did Microsoft manage to infiltrate Apple and fill these forums with hype plants? I know it's cloudy in Redmond but most other places we get our bright light from a thing called "the sun," and don't prefer our phones to emit 100% white everywhere possible.

And the "animation, physics, and transitions" are decent, except parallax which needs a lot of work, and things that don't respond to touches and swipes while they're moving (but I know it's a beta and yes I have reported these bugs to Apple).

But no matter how much a naked man may dance or gesticulate... He is still naked.

----------

Nobody got to design it. It's not designed.

It's your opinion. Some people like it others don't. No need to start a I hate the design thread every few hours.

nikicampos · Jul 5, 2013

darkgoob said:
Hotmail looks plain and lame. Why do all of you people love blinding whitespace and nearly flourescent colors? Did Microsoft manage to infiltrate Apple and fill these forums with hype plants? I know it's cloudy in Redmond but most other places we get our bright light from a thing called "the sun," and don't prefer our phones to emit 100% white everywhere possible.

And the "animation, physics, and transitions" are decent, except parallax which needs a lot of work, and things that don't respond to touches and swipes while they're moving (but I know it's a beta and yes I have reported these bugs to Apple).

But no matter how much a naked man may dance or gesticulate... He is still naked.

----------

Nobody got to design it. It's not designed.

Why you keep complaining like that, one thing is constructive criticism and other trash something just being a troll.

There's no sense complaining on what you can't change.

ijohn.8.80 · Jul 5, 2013

darkgoob said:
But no matter how much a naked man may dance or gesticulate... He is still naked.

Not if he's on the dance-floor at a foam party!

josiahsill · Jul 5, 2013

darkgoob said:
Hotmail looks plain and lame. Why do all of you people love blinding whitespace and nearly flourescent colors? Did Microsoft manage to infiltrate Apple and fill these forums with hype plants? I know it's cloudy in Redmond but most other places we get our bright light from a thing called "the sun," and don't prefer our phones to emit 100% white everywhere possible.

And the "animation, physics, and transitions" are decent, except parallax which needs a lot of work, and things that don't respond to touches and swipes while they're moving (but I know it's a beta and yes I have reported these bugs to Apple).

But no matter how much a naked man may dance or gesticulate... He is still naked.

----------

Nobody got to design it. It's not designed, yet.

I'm still hoping that just like Microsoft reversed their idiotic decision on DRM for XBOX One games, someone at Apple will come to their senses and design iOS 7 before it gets released.

If you actually aren't worried about this, then it's because you're not a stockholder, or you bought short.

Or....
I just genuinely like it. There's nothing wrong with that. There are certain things that bug me yes but ios doesn't need skeumorphism anymore. Whether you like it or not ios isn't about being just a pretty thing to look at. Now it's a lot more about the content. If you like for there to be more going on I get it but that's just not where they are goin.

nikicampos · Jul 5, 2013

darkgoob said:
Hotmail looks plain and lame. Why do all of you people love blinding whitespace and nearly flourescent colors? Did Microsoft manage to infiltrate Apple and fill these forums with hype plants? I know it's cloudy in Redmond but most other places we get our bright light from a thing called "the sun," and don't prefer our phones to emit 100% white everywhere possible.

And the "animation, physics, and transitions" are decent, except parallax which needs a lot of work, and things that don't respond to touches and swipes while they're moving (but I know it's a beta and yes I have reported these bugs to Apple).

But no matter how much a naked man may dance or gesticulate... He is still naked.

----------

Nobody got to design it. It's not designed, yet.

I'm still hoping that just like Microsoft reversed their idiotic decision on DRM for XBOX One games, someone at Apple will come to their senses and design iOS 7 before it gets released.

If you actually aren't worried about this, then it's because you're not a stockholder, or you bought short.

Now you are telling us you are a stockholder??? wooow you must be unique and the only one LOL.

If you are so worried, then, sell everything ASAP, you think you will loose money because iOS7, you should sell!!!!

But let me tell, you won't, because if you are smart enough to type and create a thread, you know that Apple stock will go up as soon as the new iPhone 5S with iOS7 comes out this September/October.

So my bet is, you won't sell, but just keep trolling.

darkgoob · Jul 5, 2013

falconeight said:
It's your opinion. Some people like it others don't. No need to start a I hate the design thread every few hours.

I don't hate the removal of the design. I just don't understand why they did it.

Other than green felt in game center, there was nothing wrong with iOS 6's design. Sure a few things could be cleaned up here and there but removing the design altogether? Why...? And BTW, I'll take green felt over translucent, flourescent circles any day.

I think iOS 7 doesn't look "bad" or anything, though it sucks that my app is going to look like it too now since I use system APIs to draw my interface. Time to design my own button graphics I guess.

I can live with the lack of design, but the white has to be made customizable. At night, I don't like all the white. They need to give you the option to set the UI to another color than white, for use in the dark. It's too bright. It messes with melatonin production in the brain. Many studies have shown this. And I work with photos mostly so "invert colors" is not an option. Even at minimum brightness, white is too bright as a main shade of the interface. They need to do like Adobe CS6 and allow a change of the interface shade.

----------

nikicampos said:
Now you are telling us you are a stockholder??? wooow you must be unique and the only one LOL.

If you are so worried, then, sell everything ASAP, you think you will loose money because iOS7, you should sell!!!!

But let me tell, you won't, because if you are smart enough to type and create a thread, you know that Apple stock will go up as soon as the new iPhone 5S with iOS7 comes out this September/October.

So my bet is, you won't sell, but just keep trolling.

You are the troll. I just asked a simple question: why did they remove design from iOS 7? I am honestly curious.

Instead of trying to offer an answer, you attack my integrity and call me names. Typical trolling behavior.

falconeight · Jul 5, 2013

darkgoob said:
I don't hate the removal of the design. I just don't understand why they did it.

Other than green felt in game center, there was nothing wrong with iOS 6's design. Sure a few things could be cleaned up here and there but removing the design altogether? Why...? And BTW, I'll take green felt over translucent, flourescent circles any day.

I think iOS 7 doesn't look "bad" or anything, though it sucks that my app is going to look like it too now since I use system APIs to draw my interface. Time to design my own button graphics I guess.

I can live with the lack of design, but the white has to be made customizable. At night, I don't like all the white. They need to give you the option to set the UI to another color than white, for use in the dark. It's too bright. It messes with melatonin production in the brain. Many studies have shown this. And I work with photos mostly so "invert colors" is not an option. Even at minimum brightness, white is too bright as a main shade of the interface. They need to do like Adobe CS6 and allow a change of the interface shade.

----------

You are the troll. I just asked a simple question: why did they remove design from iOS 7? I am honestly curious.

Instead of trying to offer an answer, you attack my integrity and call me names. Typical trolling behavior.

Simplicity is stylish and it makes me feel calm. I hate overdone graphics or art.

Googlerola · Jul 5, 2013

darkgoob said:
THE DUDE'S NAKED!

And you're wrong. Minimalism is about reduction to essentials. This went way beyond that, this went to reduction to lack of design.

Flat is ironic since Apple's design goal for iOS 7 is "depth!" Fail... Hard!!

Dude it looks AWFUL and everyone is fooling themselves, drinking the koolaid as usual. You have to be tripping on acid to look at iOS 7 and think, "design."

It honestly looks like an early pre-production system before any of the UI has even been designed yet. Like a webpage with no CSS.

----------

Evidently you're not alone.

Actually I don't find it "awful" it's something called an opinion.

w0lf · Jul 5, 2013

I'm pretty sure it's even technically possible to remove design from an OS. If anything this had way more design than previous iOS releases.

Just sayin.

reservedegotist · Jul 5, 2013

I'm curious, what do you think design means?

Also, iOS6 was not predominantly dark-themed either.

darkgoob · Jul 5, 2013

josiahsill said:
Or....
I just genuinely like it. There's nothing wrong with that. There are certain things that bug me yes but ios doesn't need skeumorphism anymore. Whether you like it or not ios isn't about being just a pretty thing to look at. Now it's a lot more about the content. If you like for there to be more going on I get it but that's just not where they are goin.

But it's NOT about the content. Making the screen so white you have to reduce brightness to avoid eye fatigue makes your content harder to see.

I am a musician, and most of the apps I use are virtual synths like Animoog, iMS20, Sunrizer, and iPolysix. They're universally skeuomorphic, beautiful, magnificent apps that carry five-star ratings and are unmatched on any other platform.

The witch-hunt crusade against skeuomorphism is ridiculous.

Besides, 90% of the design elements that were removed were not skeuomorphic. The UIButton and UISlider graphics were already not skeuomorphic. But they deleted those. Gone, replaced by nothing. Why?

rever3nce · Jul 5, 2013

This is why I am leaving this site. Constant post like this.

darkgoob · Jul 5, 2013

falconeight said:
Simplicity is stylish and it makes me feel calm. I hate overdone graphics or art.

iOS 6's buttons, toolbars, and sliders were just that. They have eye-pleasing relief and shading, and a simple, consistent look and feel. I won't miss the skeuomorphic Calendar and Notes, but replacing it with pure white? Why?

Safari's look and feel on iOS 6, the gray look of OS X, is just fine. It's familiar and easy on the eyes, and unmistakeably Apple. Replacing that with the look and feel of Microsoft's latest garbage feels like a victory for Microsoft. Is Apple really that desperate to make their product seem familiar to people switching to iOS from Windows devices?

Otherwise, why are they doing this?

KenAFSPC · Jul 5, 2013

darkgoob said:
But it's NOT about the content. Making the screen so white you have to reduce brightness to avoid eye fatigue makes your content harder to see.

Many developers have complained about this.

darkgoob said:
I don't hate the removal of the design. I just don't understand why they did it.

Other than green felt in game center, there was nothing wrong with iOS 6's design. Sure a few things could be cleaned up here and there but removing the design altogether? Why...? And BTW, I'll take green felt over translucent, flourescent circles any day.

I think iOS 7 doesn't look "bad" or anything, though it sucks that my app is going to look like it too now since I use system APIs to draw my interface. Time to design my own button graphics I guess.

I can live with the lack of design, but the white has to be made customizable. At night, I don't like all the white. They need to give you the option to set the UI to another color than white, for use in the dark. It's too bright. It messes with melatonin production in the brain. Many studies have shown this. And I work with photos mostly so "invert colors" is not an option. Even at minimum brightness, white is too bright as a main shade of the interface. They need to do like Adobe CS6 and allow a change of the interface shade.

It's a change in design, not the elimination of design. As part of the change, Apple eliminated some UI elements. That said, many developers here have voiced similar concerns about the changes -- replacing buttons with white space and text, etc -- which make IOS and third-party applications (content) more difficult, even tiresome, to use.

As for why Apple did it, it appears to be change for the sake of change to respond to critics that say IOS had become "old and stale." As myself and hundreds of others have suggested, the changes provide a new look at the expense of usability in contradiction to everything that Apple has stood for in the past. Some of the design changes reflect form (or shall we say lack of form) over function. Here's a summary posted by another developer a few days ago.

darkgoob said:
IYou are the troll. I just asked a simple question: why did they remove design from iOS 7? I am honestly curious.

Instead of trying to offer an answer, you attack my integrity and call me names. Typical trolling behavior.

As you will find reading the forum, many posters here do not understand the concept. They don't understand that they themselves are doing the trolling when they attack others for expressing opinions about IOS that differ from their own.

falconeight · Jul 5, 2013

It's a great design. I understand people can't deal with change. I can and it's awesome.

nikicampos · Jul 5, 2013

KenAF said:
Many developers have complained about this.

It's a change in design, not the elimination of design. As part of the change, Apple eliminated some UI elements. That said, many developers here have voiced similar concerns about the changes -- replacing buttons with white space and text, etc -- which make IOS and third-party applications (content) more difficult, even tiresome, to use.

As for why Apple did it, it appears to be change for the sake of change to respond to critics that say IOS had become "old and stale." As myself and hundreds of others have suggested, the changes provide a new look at the expense of usability in contradiction to everything that Apple has stood for in the past. Some of the design changes reflect form (or shall we say lack of form) over function. Here's a summary posted by another developer a few days ago.

As you will find reading the forum, many posters here do not understand the concept. They don't understand that they themselves are doing the trolling when they attack others for expressing opinions about IOS that differ from their own.

No, a troll is someone who creates a new thread to complain and whine about things that can't be changed, not constructively but trashing some else's work.

Just asking why?? why??? why did the chicken crossed the road??? why???

elistan · Jul 5, 2013

darkgoob said:
I am curious. Why was design removed from iOS 7?

If you honestly want to know, go here:
https://developer.apple.com/wwdc/videos/

Watch the following WWDC videos:

Best Practices for Great iOS UI Design
Building User Interfaces for iOS 7
Customizing Your App’s Appearance for iOS 7
Implementing Engaging UI on iOS

And especially:

What’s New in iOS User Interface Design

darkgoob · Jul 5, 2013

reservedegotist said:
I'm curious, what do you think design means?

Also, iOS6 was not predominantly dark-themed either.

I think design refers to a product of the artful, skilled execution of a plan.

Prior to public knowledge of iOS 7, only snooty design snobs cared about "skeuomorphic yuckiness" in iOS. The rest of us just used this brilliant product and loved it. I never heard anyone complain about Calendar or Notes, because if they didn't like it, they could just buy an app to replace these. But legal pads in real life are yellow and have lines for a reason: it's easier on the eyes, and on the brain (which they eyes are really metonymy for in these statements).

I also never heard anyone complain about the gray interface of Safari, nor about the shiny app tiles, nor about the gradient relief on UI buttons, nor about the UIPicker's 3D look, etc., until it became fashionable to complain about it.

They didn't complain before because all these elements were very well designed. But just like in the art world, as soon as the black-rimmed-glasses crowd decides a whitewashed canvas hanging on a white wall in a white room with white lights is the best form of art, then there will be no shortage of art critics who can't find enough wrong with everything that isn't a blank canvas.

So now all the great interface of iOS is being thrown out and replaced with white pixels, with nothing. The interface doesn't stand out anymore. It's hard or sometimes even impossible to see. I can't go into details due to NDA and the fact that I respect Apple enough to let them fix all the glaring flaws they've created by removing the design and replacing it with nothing. I needn't go into detail here, that's what bugreport.apple.com is for.

It's a beta and is subject to change.

I will say that the new text features are awesome and the design of the Mail list views and message views look great. So yeah I'll say there is some nice design work in iOS 7, in places, but you have to admit much of the design was removed on purpose. I just don't get why, since there was nothing wrong with a lot of the elements they took out.

But WHY ARE THEY DOING IT? There has to be a REASON!

I suspect it's because they want to get away from being wedded to a fixed screen resolution and size. Fonts are all vector graphics, so if the interface is nothing but fonts, it can be put on any screen size or resolution and will render correctly. This is the only technical reason I can think of why they would sacrifice having bitmaps in the UI elements.

And given the pressure that's on them from Samsung et al. to have a bigger iPhone...

Why did Apple remove design from iOS 7?

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