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I fear we're gonna remain flat forever.

Let's hope not.

Something possibly interesting to consider: think about cars which, like phones, are all about function and fashion.

It's been said for teens, phones are today's cars. Today's 14-20 year olds are more concerned about buying, customizing, and using their phones and tech "to go to (online) places" than they are about getting a driver's license and customizing their first cars to drive to places. Less "drive" to drive to somewhere nowadays, more "drive" to want to stay at home and connect with friends virtually via texting or online gaming or social media.

I'll venture to say that phone/mobile interfaces reached a sweet spot around 2010-2013 where form followed function for both hardware and software/interface...outside of some complaints over green felt, woodgrain, brushed metal, and stitched leather, our touch interfaces were beloved and ("just") worked pretty intuitively, as the interface was designed and refined after years of learning, and with the focus on USE of this new technology first and foremost. And the designs were unique! The world hadn't lemmingly stolen/borrowed Apple's hardware and software design cues as pervasively as they did after around 2010-2013.

And then how did things "advance" from this sweet spot? Things got flatter generally.

Then think about cars which, until around 2000, were designed with function heavily in mind along with unique form second. I say "unique form" because not all cars looked alike then like they do today. Touch screens (which I'd argue are form over function in a car) were non-existent. Then after around 2000, once everyone started making their grilles look like an Audi, and once touchscreens started being incorporated along with random/garish body designs, things turned more towards the fashion/form than function. And then what are two options to do as car models "age" out...they go flatter or way crazy/wilder.

For flatter cars, think: VW bug, Jaguar's new vision/direction, the Tesla cybertruck, etc. For flatter interface design: think iOS7 and Mavericks.

For wilder cars (with lots of randomness inserted in the sheetmetal/headlights/seats/interior design), think: Lexus's garish Spindle Grille...BMW's (arguably ugly) current design language...most current Hyundai's... For wilder interface design, think iOS/iPad OS 26's liquid glass...

It's as if Flat Design is a main way to design something "new/different." Not necessarily functionally better, but new...different..."modern" (gag). While wild/garish design is another (last resort) option to bring something new.

Flat design is more of a design exercise that should have stayed in the studio instead of be unleashed into car and interface design IMHO. What's the extension of flat design or wild/garish design? Where can it go from there when something new is desired? Flatter? More wild? (I can't possibly imagine BMW adding any more ugly to their current wild designs).

Do interface & car designs get even flatter and more boring (or more wild/random) or do we revert back to what worked before as a way to trick consumers that they're being given something new? Some of iOS26 and iPad OS (once it's fixed/dialed back via certain Accessibility settings) does reflect an older, more obvious, less flat way of doing things, which is kind of nice. I have no experience yet with liquid glass and Tahoe 26 but I'm not jumping in that pool quite yet.

Edit: my other thought has always been: Apple did a tremendous job of "removing the unnecessary" in the 1990's and 2000's and stripping things down to what mattered, and wrapped in a beautiful package. There was so much low hanging fruit in Windows to improve upon. That's how we got the OS and mobile OS's of the 2000's, which were minimalist yet beautiful and clear and intuitive due to the addition of lots of smart interface prompts. But then how do you extend that path...what's the extension other than to keep going more minimalist? More flat?
 
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Still no liquid glass icons anywhere and no dark icons for macOS. Apple usually pushes out updates for their suite of apps right after the new OSes are released. What's the holdup?
 
Still no liquid glass icons anywhere and no dark icons for macOS. Apple usually pushes out updates for their suite of apps right after the new OSes are released. What's the holdup?
Maybe there’s additional changes related to the new iPads. I mean, IF they’re still coming in 2025.
 
Let's hope not.

Something possibly interesting to consider: think about cars which, like phones, are all about function and fashion.

It's been said for teens, phones are today's cars. Today's 14-20 year olds are more concerned about buying, customizing, and using their phones and tech "to go to (online) places" than they are about getting a driver's license and customizing their first cars to drive to places. Less "drive" to drive to somewhere nowadays, more "drive" to want to stay at home and connect with friends virtually via texting or online gaming or social media.

I'll venture to say that phone/mobile interfaces reached a sweet spot around 2010-2013 where form followed function for both hardware and software/interface...outside of some complaints over green felt, woodgrain, brushed metal, and stitched leather, our touch interfaces were beloved and ("just") worked pretty intuitively, as the interface was designed and refined after years of learning, and with the focus on USE of this new technology first and foremost. And the designs were unique! The world hadn't lemmingly stolen/borrowed Apple's hardware and software design cues as pervasively as they did after around 2010-2013.

And then how did things "advance" from this sweet spot? Things got flatter generally.

Then think about cars which, until around 2000, were designed with function heavily in mind along with unique form second. I say "unique form" because not all cars looked alike then like they do today. Touch screens (which I'd argue are form over function in a car) were non-existent. Then after around 2000, once everyone started making their grilles look like an Audi, and once touchscreens started being incorporated along with random/garish body designs, things turned more towards the fashion/form than function. And then what are two options to do as car models "age" out...they go flatter or way crazy/wilder.

For flatter cars, think: VW bug, Jaguar's new vision/direction, the Tesla cybertruck, etc. For flatter interface design: think iOS7 and Mavericks.

For wilder cars (with lots of randomness inserted in the sheetmetal/headlights/seats/interior design), think: Lexus's garish Spindle Grille...BMW's (arguably ugly) current design language...most current Hyundai's... For wilder interface design, think iOS/iPad OS 26's liquid glass...

It's as if Flat Design is a main way to design something "new/different." Not necessarily functionally better, but new...different..."modern" (gag). While wild/garish design is another (last resort) option to bring something new.

Flat design is more of a design exercise that should have stayed in the studio instead of be unleashed into car and interface design IMHO. What's the extension of flat design or wild/garish design? Where can it go from there when something new is desired? Flatter? More wild? (I can't possibly imagine BMW adding any more ugly to their current wild designs).

Do interface & car designs get even flatter and more boring (or more wild/random) or do we revert back to what worked before as a way to trick consumers that they're being given something new? Some of iOS26 and iPad OS (once it's fixed/dialed back via certain Accessibility settings) does reflect an older, more obvious, less flat way of doing things, which is kind of nice. I have no experience yet with liquid glass and Tahoe 26 but I'm not jumping in that pool quite yet.

Edit: my other thought has always been: Apple did a tremendous job of "removing the unnecessary" in the 1990's and 2000's and stripping things down to what mattered, and wrapped in a beautiful package. There was so much low hanging fruit in Windows to improve upon. That's how we got the OS and mobile OS's of the 2000's, which were minimalist yet beautiful and clear and intuitive due to the addition of lots of smart interface prompts. But then how do you extend that path...what's the extension other than to keep going more minimalist? More flat?
Car interfaces are hilarious. I can't believe people complained about Game Center's UX in iOS 6 but not a peep about the 'fake analogue gauges' in all modern cars. I mean literally, fake, skeuomorphic gauges and UX designed as if the year were still 2010. The 2025 Hyundai Palisade is a great example.

Meanwhile, aircraft UX has been stuck in the 1980s (Airbus, modern Boeing 'glass cockpit' interfaces) since it began then and hasn't ever been updated since, and it's mostly monochromatic (the EICAS/ECAM displays, radio displays, IRS displays, Flight management computer display) with flat colourful graphics for the main flight displays. Personally, I think the 'steam gauges' had far more character. Didn't have to worry about the MCAS flying the aircraft into the ground in a Boeing 707 did we?

The proper evolution from skeuomorphic UX in the 2010s would be to support higher resolutions first, then evolve it to an AR/VR world (aka Vision Pro) into possibly a 'holographic' UX similar to the one seen in the Iron Man movie where Stark 'tosses' a 'file' into the 'bin' in a holographic display. Alas, we're sadly stuck in forever LCARS style. Also sucks we won't ever get 'realistic' watch faces for Apple Watch either, as that came out in 2015 and that was after the flattening.
 
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Still no liquid glass icons anywhere and no dark icons for macOS. Apple usually pushes out updates for their suite of apps right after the new OSes are released. What's the holdup?
The liquid glass in macOS is limited to the 'sheen' applied to the icon 'surrounds' and minimal effects in the volume pop-out and notification backgrounds, and some shinies when sending a SMS in Messages. That's it. It's even worse in tvOS, not an ounce of 'liquid glass'.

Apple watch has it in places such as in notification center but that's it. I do appreciate the icons having more depth and I like the new lockscreen clock style as it goes perfectly with my iPhone 12's wallpaper being the weather live wallpaper.

I do wish the liquid glass mean we'd have Aqua scroll bars again especially in macOS, but nope. It seems they forgot the places where Aqua belongs and just up and threw up all over the place inconsistently.
 
Car interfaces are hilarious. I can't believe people complained about Game Center's UX in iOS 6 but not a peep about the 'fake analogue gauges' in all modern cars. I mean literally, fake, skeuomorphic gauges and UX designed as if the year were still 2010. The 2025 Hyundai Palisade is a great example.

Meanwhile, aircraft UX has been stuck in the 1980s (Airbus, modern Boeing 'glass cockpit' interfaces) since it began then and hasn't ever been updated since, and it's mostly monochromatic (the EICAS/ECAM displays, radio displays, IRS displays, Flight management computer display) with flat colourful graphics for the main flight displays. Personally, I think the 'steam gauges' had far more character. Didn't have to worry about the MCAS flying the aircraft into the ground in a Boeing 707 did we?

The proper evolution from skeuomorphic UX in the 2010s would be to support higher resolutions first, then evolve it to an AR/VR world (aka Vision Pro) into possibly a 'holographic' UX similar to the one seen in the Iron Man movie where Stark 'tosses' a 'file' into the 'bin' in a holographic display. Alas, we're sadly stuck in forever LCARS style. Also sucks we won't ever get 'realistic' watch faces for Apple Watch either, as that came out in 2015 and that was after the flattening.

The complaint about Game Center's style in iOS 6 isn't just that it looks gaudy, but also that it misses how most people play games.

Analog gauges in cars at least are topical. Plus, people immediately understand them, as they're already familiar.
 
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