General [Coming January] Further 'flattening' iOS 7's icons

[cobbyco]

Release

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=18644454

Discussion continues here. This thread is now closed (hopefully).

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Let's get something out of the way first. I don't hate the current iOS 7 icons.

I was thinking to myself about the icons in iOS 7, and I realized how flat they are now in comparison to iOS 6. However, I still thought that Apple could have gone flatter and still made it look good. After all, the icons found in Siri and Settings are very flat, mostly consisting of a plain background and a white image. I wanted to see what the iOS 7 icons would look like in that style (no gradients/textures etc.) so inevitably I opened up MS paint and had a go at it. After realizing I quite liked the icons, I started to refine them and neaten them up a bit. This is the result:

1st party (Apple) icons:

Image also here

3rd party (App Store) icons:

Image also here

Things to note:

• The icons make use of iOS 7's 'Icon Grid System' (Google it).
• The icons still use iOS 7's colour scheme found in all of the built-in apps.
• Some of the icons have had major redesigns, including Game Center, Newsstand and Voice Memos.
• Clock has had no changes done to it, while Calculator has had a very minor colour change and Reminders has had it's subtle texture removed.
• Yes, all of these icons were made entirely on MS Paint.

Free theme!
I've decided that I will be making this into a free Cydia theme for all iOS 7 devices (when the OS gets jailbroken). There will be alternative icons (if you request them) that will override the standard set of icons, such as a Safari icon without the border. Don't forget, I've still yet to finalize all the icons so I will be making small changes where needed/requested.

Alternative icons​

Let me know what you guys think of this below, and whether you will download this when it goes on Cydia for free. Thanks for reading!

 

[vcao]

so simple. its genius.

 

[haydn!]

To be fair, they look pretty good. Except one, game centre. I really don't get why people don't get it's not a game, hence why the icon isn't of some generic gamer type thing. You've made it look like a darts game!

 

[Hook1903]

I like weather,game center icons.App/itunes store and videos icons better than current ones(colour scheme)but safari icon need a redesing,i think.

 

[Cougarcat]

It's better (especially memos––nice). But my problem wasn't that they weren't flat enough, it's the ugly gradients (which you've inadvertently fixed) and the garish colors.

 

[pickaxe]

See now this I can get behind. These icons are actually uniform. The OS is "officially" about getting rid of depth and adornments yet half the icons have faux-depth effects and almost all of them have those tacky gradients.

 

[cobbyco]

Except one, game centre. I really don't get why people don't get it's not a game, hence why the icon isn't of some generic gamer type thing. You've made it look like a darts game!

I've heard this several times before, and you do have a point. My only problem is that I hate the current 'bubbles' design of both the icon and the app. Until I can think of something else to represent the social aspects of the app, I am falling back onto the darts board. It is a change I am considering making to the icon at some point, but we'll see what others think about it first before re-redesigning it.

 

[cmichaelb]

Let's get something out of the way first. I don't hate the current iOS 7 icons.

I was thinking to myself about the icons in iOS 7, and I realized how flat they are now in comparison to iOS 6. However, I still thought that Apple could have gone flatter and still made it look good. After all, the icons found in Siri and Settings (as of beta 5) are very flat, mostly consisting of a plain background and a white image. I wanted to see what the iOS 7 icons would look like in that style (no gradients/textures etc.) so inevitably I opened up MS paint and had a go at it. After realizing I quite liked the icons, I started to refine them and neaten them up a bit. This is the result (left = current, right = 'flat'):

Image
Things to note:

• The icons make use of iOS 7's 'Icon Grid System' (Google it).
• The icons still use iOS 7's colour scheme found in all of the built-in apps.
• Some of the icons have had major redesigns, including Game Center, Newsstand and Voice Memos.
• Clock and Maps have had no changes done to them, while Calculator has had a very minor colour change.

I've decided that, provided I get enough positive feedback from you guys, I will be making this into a free Cydia theme for all iOS 7 devices (when the OS gets jailbroken). There will be alternative icons (if you request them) that will override the standard set of icons, such as a Safari icon without the border. Don't forget, I've still yet to finalize all the icons so I will be making small changes where needed/requested.

Let me know what you guys think of this below, and whether you would download this if it were on Cydia for free. Thanks for reading!

Your game center icon is actually an improvement. News stand, I understand what you were going for, but it looks too much like a flag.

Otherwise, nice work, just not my taste. Still, you did a nice job, especially using MS Paint.

 

[cobbyco]

Your game center icon is actually an improvement. Otherwise, nice work, just not my taste.

You might like this then:

(I forgot to round off the corners)

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News stand, I understand what you were going for, but it looks too much like a flag.

How did I not see that before...

 

[zbarvian]

Too reductive. What are the merits of flat design in your eyes? Soon enough there aren't going to be professional visual artists, instead a bunch of armchair designers working on MS Paint.

 

[apollo1444]

 

[Doublea6]

Very good! Especially in Microsoft paint. I'm just trying to decide if it looks too cartoony for me. For me I dislike the inconsistency of ios 7. Some of the pages are white, some are black.

 

[cobbyco]

Too reductive. What are the merits of flat design in your eyes? Soon enough there aren't going to be professional visual artists, instead a bunch of armchair designers working on MS Paint.

Not everyone likes the same style of design. You can see that from the comments above: some people like it and some people don't.

What difference does it make if I used a $300 program suite or a free Windows add-on? Surely it's about the end result, not about the tools used to get there? Also, I'm not a professional designer selling my work to Apple or anything like that, and so I'm not trying to take over the world with flat design.

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Image

I laughed at that for at least a minute

Fair enough though, not everyone is a fan of that design style.

 

[cmichaelb]

You might like this then:Image
(I forgot to round off the corners)

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How did I not see that before...

It's a great representation of a newspaper though. I'm not sure what else you could do.

 

[cobbyco]

It's a great representation of a newspaper though. I'm not sure what else you could do.

I might fill up more of the icon with lines of 'text', to make it a bit less flag-shaped. I'll try not to ruin it and post it tomorrow.

 

[azjack]

Some of those look pretty darn good. I wonder what US Airways might think of your Newstand icon?

 

[charlituna]

Not everyone likes the same style of design.

Very true.

For example I have no issue with most of the icons or the general style. I do think that the revised settings icon. I find the existing one too busy. I feel the same about the Newstand app. To me two 'magazines' would have gotten the idea across. The compass and stocks are too dark for my tastes. But I'm likely to shove them in a folder and forget them so whatever. And the Game Center apps are too vague and don't reflect what it does. Face off might make more sense to reflect the app purpose, taken perhaps from the iOS 6 challenges view

 

[Naif1998]

I hate the new logo of Game center, why does it have bubbles on it?

 

[matttye]

Have to say I prefer the Apple ones - sorry man.

I prefer the colours and the general design of most of the ones on the left.

 

[ominx]

I'm like these a lot. But I am more impressed by the fact that you did these in MS Paint without the use of layers. Nice work.

 

[Gogurt48]

For Game Center, how about a silhouette of a game controller?

 

[ThisIsNotMe]

Why does News Stand look like the American Flag???

 

[ThisIsNotMe]

Yes-Yes-Yes-No
Yes-Yes-Yes-Yes
Yes-Yes-Yes-No
No-Yes-Yes-Yes
Yes-No-Yes-Yes
Yes-Yes-Yes-Yes

Camera - Don't like the color
Game Center - Like the idea but something is off
News Stand - Why is it a gray American Flag?
Voice Memo - Color/White is meh

 

[syd430]

Your Settings icon is terrible imo. Too vague and too safe. I also dislike your Photos, Newsstand, Game Centre and Voice Memos icons as well.

 

[djtech42]

For Game Center, how about a silhouette of a game controller?

Image

Not bad, but it reminds me of the Sega Genesis! (a.k.a. MegaDrive) haha

3 button controller